article_snippet.sent: This event, while large and tragic, is not unusual for that region of the world as the whole mountain range stretching from Tibet almost to Caspian Sea
article_snippet.sent: is an area of major collision between continental plates," said geological engineer Nicholas Sitar with the University of California, Berkeley's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
article_snippet.sent: The population has exploded in several decades," U.S. Geological Survey spokesman Gavin Hayes told CNN.
article_snippet.sent: Nepal is located on a major plate boundary between India and Eurasia, where collisions have been in progress for about 50 million years.
article_snippet.sent: collisions are responsible for the construction of the Himalayas, which has the tallest and some of the fastest growing mountains in the world, said Chris Goldfinger, director of Oregon State University's Active Tectonics and Seafloor Mapping Laboratory.
highlights_snippet.sent: "major event in Nepal, while large and tragic, is not unusual" in region, geological engineer says .