Earthquake in the Himalayas: A Historical Perspective

• A magnitude 10 earthquake in the Himalayas has claimed at least 100 lives and damaged buildings and homes.

• The earthquake was felt in Nepal, parts of Bihar, and New Delhi, thousands of kilometers away.

• The main earthquake was followed by at least two aftershocks.

• Earthquakes in the Himalayas evoke a special kind of dread in India, with memories of two deadly quakes in Nepal in 2015 still circulating.

• The Indian and Eurasian plates create the Himalayas, with fractured zones creating fault lines where earthquakes occur.

• Seismologists study these faults and the pattern of past earthquakes to estimate the release and residual energy at these fault lines.

• Scientists have warned of an overdue 8-magnitude earthquake in the Garhwal-Kumaon range due to the pattern of quakes in the region.

• Infrastructure development in the Himalayan region must consider the imminence of a major earthquake and the associated costs.

• Adhering to existing building codes can help limit the inevitable damage.