Seismicity of Pakistan

Pakistan is lying at the intersection of two highly active subducting plates namely the Eurasian
and the Indian plate (USGS, 2013). The Indian plate is subducting beneath the Eurasian plate and
the progression being largely with the consequence of destructive inter-plate earthquakes
(Bilham, R. 2004). The northern areas of Pakistan comprises of Himalayan belt i.e. an active
fault line, a reason behind most of the catastrophic earthquakes the region has suffered etc. The
2005 Kashmir earthquake, Mw = 7.6, and the very recent 2015 Nepal earthquakes series, Mw =
6 - 7.9, can picture clearly the real damaging potential of the Himalayan belt. Studies have
shown that there is a possibility of the occurrence of earthquakes of Mw >8 in the region affected
by the Kashmir earthquake (Avouac, 2006). Towards the coastal borders of Pakistan, the Arabian
plate is also subducting beneath the Eurasian plate forming another convergent boundary, a
reason behind the 2013 Awaran earthquake of Mw = 7.7. Pakistan possess such high seismic
hazard that on average our country suffers catastrophic earthquake once in 10 years (Naveed,
2008). The seismic hazard potential of Pakistan has been demonstrated with the help of Error!
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