Minor earthquake quietly rumbles through Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

PESHAWAR: A moderate earthquake of 3.8 magnitude on Richter scale struck Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in the early hours of Thursday.

The seismic event occurred around at 4:32 am. It softly vibrated across the province without causing any commotion.

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The earthquake’s epicenter was approximately 92 kilometre (km) away from Ishqoshim, located in the region of Gorno-Badakhshan in Tajikistan. The quake occurred with a very shallow depth of 15 km.

The earthquake was not reported to have been felt in the surrounding areas. Meanwhile, no reports of damage or casualties have been received thus far.

Pakistan routinely experience earthquakes as several fault lines run through the entirety of the country. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in particular, is prone to constant earthquakes due to the Chaman fault line.

The Chaman Fault stretches over 850 km in Pakistan and Afghanistan. It separates two huge plates, the Eurasian plate and the Indo-Australian plate. The fault line moves sideways, pushing the plates past each other at a rate of about 10 millimeter (mm) every year. This movement is due to the Indo-Australian plate moving northward, while the Eurasian plate is staying put.

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Although we usually think it moves at 10 mm per year, some reports say it moves faster, up to 25–35 mm per year. This movement has caused the land on either side of the fault to shift, creating mountain ranges like the Kirthar and Khude Mountains in eastern Balochistan.