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Revisiting major earthquakes in Pakistan
Author(s) -
Mahmood Irfan,
Kidwai Aqeel Ahmed,
Qureshi Shahid Nadeem,
Iqbal Muhammad Farooq,
Atique Luqman
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
geology today
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.188
H-Index - 17
eISSN - 1365-2451
pISSN - 0266-6979
DOI - 10.1111/gto.12085
Subject(s) - geology , seismology , context (archaeology) , tectonics , intersection (aeronautics) , plate tectonics , paleontology , geography , cartography
Pakistan is prone to earthquakes. Seismically, Pakistan is one of the most active areas of Asia. It has high density of active faults and is located at the intersection of three plate boundaries, namely Indian, Eurasian and Arabian. Numerous high‐magnitude earthquakes in the past in Pakistan have resulted in loss of life, property and infrastructure. The 2005 Kashmir earthquake and 1935 Quetta earthquake were the most destructive, due to which thousands of people lost their lives. After a description of the regional tectonic structure for context, this article discusses the most major and most destructive historical earthquakes in Pakistan. It describes the associated tectonics, and provides an assessment of seismic hazards in Pakistan.