On January 7, a 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck Tingri in China’s Tibet region. Impact was felt in parts of Nepal, Bhutan and India. Hundreds of aftershocks followed the quake, forcing thousands of people to evacuate and trapping many under rubble.
The Himalayan region has always been vulnerable to earthquakes because of the movement of the Indian plate against the Eurasian plate. The area was particularly hit in 2005 and 2015. In the 2015 earthquake, over 9,000 people died. In 2005, over 1,300 people died after an earthquake in October.
Most earthquakes in the region range between 4 to 4.9 in magnitude, with only two earthquakes with magnitudes 8 and over.
These two earthquakes came in 1934 and 1950. The map below shows some larger earthquakes in the region from 1908 to 2025. The Eurasian-Indian plate boundary cuts across the northernmost parts of India, making the surrounding regions prone to earthquakes.
While most earthquakes in the region record lower magnitudes, some earthquakes can be severe. For instance, the 2005 earthquake resulted in surface rupture extending 75 kilometres, unprecedented at that time for earthquakes in the Himalayan region, according to NASA’s Earth Observatory.
Also read:Damage control: On the Tibet earthquake
Other impacts of earthquakes include flooding from glacial lakes (which are growing in size, according to ISRO’s satellite reports) and landslides. These impacts are further heightened when large dams are exposed to earthquakes.
Published – January 15, 2025 09:41 am IST
