Earth Quake in Pakistan 2005

The morning of October 8, 2005 is a day Pakistanis will never forget for a long time to come. This is because this was the day the powerful earthquake had struck the Indo-Pakistan border with a magnitude of 7.6. Not only did this earthquake in Pakistan affect Pakistan, it also affected northern India and eastern Afghanistan. In fact, this earthquake in Pakistan in considered to be one of the strongest earthquakes that has occurred in this area since M7.6 in 1555.

With this earthquake, northern Pakistan and many parts of adjoining Jammu and Kashmir had witnessed several thousand deaths. In addition to this, about 10 people from other pars of north India and 4 in Afghanistan had also died. Even other states of India, like Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, which are more than a thousand kilometers from the earthquake site, had felt the tremors of the earthquake in Pakistan.

Basically, Pakistan experiences earthquake activity in the north and western sections of Pakistan, along the boundary of the Indian, Iranian and Afghan micro-plates. There is the Chaman Fault that is located along the western frontier of Pakistan with Afghanistan from Kalat, to go on to the northern Makran range that is passed Quetta and then to Kabul, Afghanistan.

The fault that runs along the Makran coast is similar in nature to the West Coast found along the coast of Maharashtra, India. There is also an active subduction zone that exists off the Makran coast. This is where the great earthquake in Pakistan of 1945 was centered and is the boundary between the Arabian and Iranian micro-plates. There are also thrust zones found running along the Salt, Sulaiman and Kirthar ranges.

Pakistan is divided into 4 zones, based on the expected ground acceleration in Pakistan. Zone 4 consists of the areas that surround Quetta, parts of NWFP and along the Makran coast and Afghan border. The remaining parts of the NWFP lies in Zone3, except for southern parts of this province that lies in Zone2. Even the remaining parts of Pakistani coast, till Karachi is found in Zone 3. Zone 2 consists of the remaining parts of Pakistan, including the major cities of Pakistan, Peshawar, Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

Despite being part of Zone 2, these cities regularly experience earthquakes from the north and neighboring city of Afghanistan. Zone 1 of Pakistan includes the upper western part of Balochistan and regions found running along the border with India. Lahore is also included in this zone. Lahore is the city which had experienced serious damage during the 1905 Kangra earthquake of neighboring India.

Today, the most vulnerable parts of Pakistan which are more than likely to experience an earthquake in Pakistan are parts of Balochstan province lying in and around Quetta that stretches to the Afghan border and the western parts of Balochistan. This also includes the Makran coast that runs till the Iranian border. You can expect a maximum peak ground acceleration that ranges between 0.24 to 0.4g in these regions.

In addition to earthquakes in Pakistan, the coast of Pakistan has also been affected by tsunamis and tidal waves. In fact, the worst case was in 1945 when there was an earthquake in Pakistan which struck a magnitude of 7.9 on the Makran coast, with waves that reached heights of 12 meters.