![]() Earthquake zones of Pakistan. (<6.0 in green, 6.0–6.9 in blue, 7.0–7.9 in orange, 8.0+ in red) | |
Largest | 8.1 Mw 1945 Balochistan earthquake |
---|---|
Deadliest | 7.6 Mw 2005 Kashmir earthquake |
Pakistan is one of the most seismically active countries in the world, being crossed by several major faults. As a result, earthquakes in Pakistan occur often and are destructive.
Pakistan geologically overlaps both the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates. Balochistan, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan provinces lie on the southern edge of the Eurasian Plate on the Iranian Plateau. Sindh, Punjab and Azad Jammu & Kashmir provinces lie on the north-western edge of the Indian plate in South Asia. Hence this region is prone to violent earthquakes, as the two tectonic plates collide.
Date | Locality, district, or province | Mag. | MMI | Deaths | Injuries | Notes | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2023-03-21 | Badakhshan, Afghanistan | 6.5 Mw | V | 20 | 302 | Severe damage, ten killed in Afghanistan. Damage to buildings also in India and Tajikistan | - | |
2022-06-24 | Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | 4.2 Mw | VII | Five killed in Afghanistan | [1] [2] | |||
2022-06-21 | Khost Province, Afghanistan | 6.0 Mw | VIII | 13 | 27 | Heavy damage. Over 1,100 killed in Afghanistan. | [3] | |
2022-05-06 | Khuzdar, Balochistan | 5.2 Mw | VI | 1 | Moderate damage | [4] | ||
2022-03-16 | Gilgit-Baltistan | 5.1 Mw | VII | 1 | 9 | Minor damage | [5] | |
2021-12-27 | Gilgit-Baltistan | 5.2 Mw | V | 9 | Severe damage | [6] | ||
2021-10-07 | Harnai, Balochistan | 5.9 Mw | VII | 42 | 300 | Severe damage | [7] | |
2019-10-06 | New Mirpur, Azad Kashmir | 3.6 Mw | IV | 1 | 10 | Casualties due to a house collapse | [8] [9] | |
2019-09-24 | New Mirpur, Azad Kashmir | 5.6 Mw | VII | 40 | 852 | Severe | [10] | |
2018-01-31 | Lasbela, Balochistan | 4.7 Mw | V | 1 | 9 | [11] [12] | ||
2018-01-30 | Badakhshan | 6.1 Mw | 1 | 9-11 | ||||
2015-12-25 | Gilgit-Baltistan Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | 6.3 Mw | V | 4 | 100 | |||
2015-10-26 | Badakhshan | 7.5 Mw | VII | 399 | 2,536 | |||
2015-07-24 | Islamabad | 5.1 Mw | V | 3 | ||||
2014-05-08 | Sindh | 4.5 Mw | 2 | 50 | ||||
2013-09-28 | Awaran District, Balochistan | 6.8 Mw | VII | 22 | Aftershock. | |||
2013-09-24 | Awaran District, Balochistan | 7.7 Mw | IX | 825 | 700 | |||
2013-04-16 | Balochistan | 7.7 Mw | VIII | 34 | 105 | |||
2011-01-18 | Dalbandin, Balochistan | 7.2 Mw | VII | 3 | some | |||
2010-10-10 | Haripur, Northwest Frontier Province | 5.2 Mw | V | 1 | 15 | Moderate damage | [13] | |
2008-10-29 | Ziarat District, Balochistan | 6.4 Mw | 215 | 200 | ||||
2005-10-08 | Azad Kashmir, Balakot | 7.6 Mw | XI | 86,000–87,351 | 69,000–75,266 | Extreme damage in Azad Kashmir, Balakot town almost completely destroyed and Muzaffarabad suffering heaviest number of casualties. Deadliest earthquake in South Asia, epicentre centred on the Jhelum Fault Zone. | ||
2004-02-14 | Battagram, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | 5.5 Mw | VIII | 24 | 63 | |||
2002-11-02 | Battagram, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | 5.4 Mw 6.3 Mw | VIII | 41 | 168 | Doublet | ||
1997-02-27 | Balochistan | 7.0 Mw | VIII | 57 | ||||
1992-05-20 | Kohat Division, North West Frontier | 6.0 Mw | VII | 36 | 100 | Moderate | [14] [15] | |
1983-12-31 | Gilgit-Baltistan | 7.2 Mw | VII | 12–26 | 60–483 | Severe | [16] | |
1981-12-09 | Gilgit-Baltistan | 5.9 Mw | 220 | [17] | ||||
1974-12-28 | Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | 6.2 Mw | 5,300 | 17,000 | ||||
1972-09-03 | Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | 6.2 Mw | VIII | 100 | [18] | |||
1945-11-28 | Makran Coast, British Baluchistan | 8.1 Mw | X | 4000 | Tsunami | |||
1935-05-31 | Ali Jaan, Balochistan | 7.7 | X | 30,000–60,000 | ||||
1931-08-27 | Mach, Balochistan | 7.4 | [19] | |||||
1931-08-24 | Sharigh Valley, Balochistan | 7 | [19] | |||||
1909-10-21 | Sibi, Balochistan | 7 | 100 | [19] | ||||
1892-12-20 | Qilla Abdullah, Balochistan | 6.8 | Chaman Fault | [20] | ||||
1885-05-30 | Srinagar, Kashmir | 6.3–6.8 | VIII | 3,000 | ||||
1865-01-22 | Peshawar | 6 | [20] | |||||
1852-01-24 | Kahan, Balochistan | 8 | [21] | |||||
1827-09-24 | Lahore, Punjab | 7.8 | 1,000 | [21] | ||||
1819-06-16 | Allahbund, Sindh | 7.7–8.2 Mw | XI | >1,543 | Tsunami | |||
1668-05-02 | Shahbandar, Sindh | 7.6 | 50,000 | [22] | ||||
1555-09-?? | Kashmir | 7.6–8.0 Mw | 600–60,000 | |||||
The inclusion criteria for adding events are based on WikiProject Earthquakes' notability guideline that was developed for stand alone articles. The principles described are also applicable to lists. In summary, only damaging, injurious, or deadly events should be recorded. |
The 1945 Balochistan earthquake occurred in British India at 1:26 PKT on 28 November 1945 with a moment magnitude of 8.1 and a maximum perceived intensity of X (Extreme) on the Mercalli intensity scale.
The 2002 Hindu Kush earthquakes struck in northern Afghanistan during the month of March. At least 166 people were killed with a very large and intermediate-depth mainshock on March 3. Three weeks later, at least 1,200 were killed during a moderate but shallow event that had a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII. The M7.4 and M6.1 reverse events were focused in the Hindu Kush mountain range area.
The Chaman Fault is a major, active geological fault in Pakistan and Afghanistan that runs for over 850 km. Tectonically, it is actually a system of related geologic faults that separates the Eurasian Plate from the Indo-Australian Plate. It is a terrestrial, primarily transform, left-lateral strike-slip fault. The slippage rate along the Chaman fault system as the Indo-Australian Plate moves northward has been estimated at 10 mm/yr or more. In addition to its primary transform aspect, the Chaman fault system has a compressional component as the Indian Plate is colliding with the Eurasian Plate. This type of plate boundary is sometimes called a transpressional boundary.
A 6.2 magnitude earthquake occurred in Afghanistan on October 22, 2009 at 19:51:27 UTC. The maximum Mercalli intensity was V (Moderate) at Fayzabad, Badakhshan.
The 1932 Ierissos earthquake occurred at 19:20 on 26 September. It caused severe damage in Ierissos, Greece and the surrounding part of the Chalkidiki peninsula, with 161–491 casualties reported.
The 2013 Balochistan earthquakes took place in late September in southwestern Pakistan. The mainshock had a moment magnitude of 7.7 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). At least 825 people were killed and hundreds more were injured. On 28 September, a M6.8 aftershock occurred to the north at a depth of 14.8 kilometres, killing at least 22 people.
The 1979 Ghaenat earthquakes were a series of large earthquakes in Qaen County, Khorasan Province, northeast Iran, near the Afghanistan border. The first mainshock, known as the Korizan earthquake with a surface wave magnitude (Ms ) of 6.6 and moment magnitude (Mw ) of 6.8, struck on November 14, while the Ms 7.1 or Mw 7.2 Koli-Boniabad earthquake struck on November 27. The two mainshocks were assigned a maximum Modified Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe) and X (Extreme), respectively. The earthquakes caused extensive damage throughout northeastern Iran, killing an estimated 297 to 440 people and left at least 279 injured.
The 1983 Hindu Kush earthquake occurred south of Fayzabad, Badakhshan in northeast Afghanistan at 03:52 PST on December 31, 1983, near the border with Pakistan and the USSR. Striking 214.5 km beneath the Hindu Kush mountains, the moment magnitude 7.4 quake affected three countries, killing at least 26 people and injuring several hundred.
The Lenin Peak disaster occurred on 13 July 1990 when 43 climbers were killed during an avalanche on the 7,134-meter-high mountain peak in northeast Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. The deadly avalanche was triggered by a moment magnitude scale 6.4 earthquake which struck at a depth of 216.8 km beneath the Hindu Kush mountains in neighbouring Afghanistan. The incident is believed to be the deadliest mountaineering disaster in history.
The 1885 Kashmir earthquake, also known as the Baramulla earthquake occurred on 30 May in Srinagar. It had an estimated moment magnitude of Mw 6.3–6.8 and maximum Medvedev–Sponheuer–Karnik scale intensity of VIII (Damaging). At least 3,081 people died and severe damage resulted.
The 1991 Hindu Kush earthquake occurred northeast of Kabul, Afghanistan on February 1, 1991. It was an intermediate-depth earthquake with a hypocenter 142.4 km beneath the Hindu Kush mountains. It measured 6.9 on the moment magnitude scale, and affected neighbouring Pakistan and the USSR. At least 848 people were killed in both countries and damage was estimated at $26 million USD.
The 1979 Saint Elias earthquake occurred near noon local time on 28 February. It measured Mw 7.4–7.6. Though the maximum recorded Modified Mercalli intensity was VII, damage was minimal and there were no casualties due to the remoteness of the faulting. The epicenter lies near the Alaskan border between the United States and Canada.
Sources