The United States Geological Survey
recorded a Magnitude 7.2 Earthquake at a depth of 30 km about 50 km in the Pamir Mountains of eastern Tajikistan, slightly after 12.50
pm local
time (slightly after 7.50 am GMT) on Monday 7 December 2015.Two people have reportedly died following the event, both as the result of rockfalls striking cars; in one of these incidents three other people in the vehicle were injured. Ten further people were injured in a separate landslide, one of a number that occurred across the region, blocking roads and demolishing buildings; around 237 houses were destroyed in the event and a further 205 damaged. People have reported feeling the quake as far away as New Delhi in India. The initial quake has been followed by a number of aftershocks.
Building damaged by the 7 December 2015 Tajikistan Earthquake. Ozogadon.
The Pamir Mountains lie to the north of the boundary between the Indian and Eurasian
tectonic plates, which runs through northern Afghanistan. The Indian
Plate is moving northward relative to the Eurasian Plate, causing
folding and uplift along this boundary, which has led to the formation
of the Hindu Kush Mountains of Afghanistan, The Pamirs in Tajikistan, the Himalayas and the other
mountain ranges of Central Asia., and which makes the nations in this
boundary zone prone to Earthquakes.
The approximate location of the 7 December 2015 Tajikistan Earthquake.Google Maps.
Witness
accounts of Earthquakes can help geologists to understand these events,
and the structures that cause them. The international non-profit
organization Earthquake Report is interested in hearing from people who may have felt this event; if you felt this quake then you can report it to Earthquake Report here.
See also...
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Hundreds known to have died following massive deep Earthquake in northeast Afghanistan. Four hundred and forty people are known to have died and thousands more
are missing or injured following a massive deep Earthquake in Badakhshan
Province in north-eastern Afghanistan on Monday 26 October 2015. The
quake was measured as having a Magnitude of 7.5 and occurring at a depth
of 712 km by the...
Thousands dead as Magnitude 7.8 Earthquake strikes Nepal. Over 4500 people have been confirmed dead after an Earthquake measured as a Magnitude 7.8 event at a depth of 15 km by the United States Geological Survey struck
the Lamjung District of Nepal...
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