More than 800 dead following Magnitude 6.0 Earthquake in eastern Afghanistan.

The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 6.0 Earthquake at a depth of 8 km, roughly 27 km to the northeast of the city of Jalālābād in Nangarhar Province, eastern Afghanistan, slightly after 11.45 pm local time (slightly after 7.15 pm GMT) on Sunday 31 August 2025. The quake was felt across eastern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan, as well as in parts of northern India, and is reported to have completely destroyed several villages in Kunar Province, on the border with Pakistan. At the time of writing, more than 800 people have been confirmed to have died, with that number expected to rise significantly over the coming days. A further 2500 people are known to have been injured by the event, and the Taliban government of Afghanistan is appealing to the international community for help with rescue and reconstruction efforts.

The approximate location of the 31 August 2025 Afghanistan Earthquake. USGS.

The boundary between the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates runs close to 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 Himalayas and the other mountain ranges of Central Asia., and which makes the nations in this boundary zone prone to Earthquakes.

Plate boundaries and movements beneath southern Pakistan, Iran and the Arabian Sea. University of Southampton.

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Two deaths following Magnitude 5.8 Earthquake beneath Central Sulawesi, Indonesia.

The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 5.8 Earthquake at a depth of 12 km, approximately 12 km to the northwest of the town of Poso in Central Sulawesi Province, Indonesia, slightly before 6.40 am local time on Sunday 17 August 2025 (slightly before 10.40 pm on Sunday 16 August, GMT). Twenty nine people are known to have been injured during this event, two of whom subsequently died, one later on the day of the event, and one on Tuesday 19 August. The initial quake was followed by a series of aftershocks.

The approximate location of the 17 August 2025  Central Sulawesi Province Earthquake. USGS.

The tectonic situation beneath Sulawesi is complex, as it is caught in the collisional zone between the Eurasian, Pacific and Australian Plates. The north of the island is located on a breakaway section of the Eurasian Plate, called the Sangihe Plate. To the east lies the remnant Molucca Sea Plate, which is being subducted beneath both the Sangihe Plate and the more easterly Halmahera Plate, leading to Earthquakes and volcanism on Sulawesi and the islands of the Sangihe Arc in the west and the islands of the Halmahera Arc in the east.

The subduction zones beneath Sulawesi and the surrounding islands. Hall & Spakman (2015).

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At least one fatality following Magnitude 6.1 Earthquake in eastern Turkey.

The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 6.1 Earthquake at a depth of 10.0 km, about 10 km to the southwest of the municipality of Bigadiç in Balıkesir Province, Turkey,  slightly before 7.55 pm local time (slightly before 4.55 pm GMT) on Sunday 10 August 2025. Sixteen buildings are reported to have collapsed following the event, although the majority are reported to have been derelict before the event, with at least one fatality, an 81-year-old woman who died after being rescued from the remains of a collapsed building, with 29 more people having been injured.

Local residents removing debris from collapsed buildings following an Earthquake in northeast Turkey on 10 August 2025. Bahadir Demirçeriven/AP.

Balıkesir Province lies close to the boundary between the Anatolian Plate, to the north, the Aegean Sea Plate (underlying the Peloponnese, Attica, The Cyclades Islands, Crete, the Dodecanese Islands and Turkey to the southeast of the Taurus Mountains) to the west and the African Plate to the south. Northern Greece and the north coast of Turkey lie on the Eurasian Plate. Both countries are highly prone to earthquakes because of this.

The approximate location of the 10 August 2020 Balıkesir Province Earthquake. USGS.

To the east the Arabian Plate  is being pushed north and west by the movement of the African Plate, further to the south. This leads to a zone of tectonic activity within the province, as the Arabian and Anatolian plates are pushed together, along the East Anatolian Fault, and past one-another, along the Dead Sea Transform.

Simplified map of the plate movements of the eastern Mediterranean. Univeriteit Utrecht.

This movement also leads to a zone of faulting along the northern part of Turkey, the North Anatolian Fault Zone, as the Anatolian Plate is pushed past the Eurasian Plate, which underlies the Black Sea and Crimean Peninsula  (transform faulting). This is not a simple process, as the two plates constantly stick together, then break apart as the pressure builds up, leading to Earthquakes, which can be some distance from the actual fault zone. 

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Magnitude 6.2 Earthquake off the west coast of Sumatra.

The Indonesian Meteorological, Climatological, and Geophysical Agency recorded a Magnitude 6.2 Earthquake at a depth of about 29 km, off the West coast of Aceh Province, Sumatra, Indonesia slightly after 6.00 pm Western Indonesian Time (slightly after 11.00 am GMT) on Tuesday 31 January 2025. There have been no reports of any damage or casualties following this event, but people have reported feeling  tremors  across Aceh Province and parts of North Sumatra.

The approximate location of the 31 January 2025 Aceh Province Earthquake. USGS.

The Indo-Australian Plate, which underlies the Indian Ocean to the west of Sumatra, is being subducted beneath the Sunda Plate, a breakaway part of the Eurasian Plate which underlies Sumatra and neighbouring Java, along the Sunda Trench, passing under Sumatra, where friction between the two plates can cause Earthquakes. As the Indo-Australian Plate sinks further into the Earth it is partially melted and some of the melted material rises through the overlying Sunda Plate as magma, fueling the volcanoes of Sumatra.

The Subduction zone beneath Sumatra. NASA/Earth Observatory.

This does not happen at a 90° angle, as occurs in the subduction zones along the western margins of North and South America, but at a steeply oblique angle. This means that as well as the subduction of the Indo-Australian plate beneath the Sunda, the two plates are also moving past one-another. This causes rifting within the plates, as parts of each plate become stuck to the other, and are dragged along in the opposing plate's direction. The most obvious example of this is the Sumatran Fault, which runs the length of Sumatra, with the two halves of the island moving independently of one-another. This fault is the cause of most of the quakes on the island, and most of the island's volcanoes lie on it.

The movement of the tectonic plates around Sumatra. NASA/Earth Observatory.

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Evacuations ordered after increase in activity from Mount Ibu on Halmahera Island, Indonesia.

Authorities in North Maluku Province, Indonesia, have ordered the evacuation of six villages close to Mount Ibu, a 1325 m stratovolcano on the northwest coast of Halmahera Island, following a series of eruptions in the first two weeks of 2025. Mount Ibu began its current eruptive cycle in June 2024, but January has seen a significant rise in activity, with more than a thousand eruptions have been recorded on the volcano this year, with the largest producing ash columns reaching as high as 4 km over the summit of the volcano. However, to date only one village, with a population of 517 people, has been evacuated, with about 2500 people in the remaining five villages reluctant to leave without first harvesting crops.

An eruption on Mount Ibu, Halmahera Island, on Wednesday 15 January 2024. Azzam/AFP.

The Halmahera Island chain is a volcanic arc formed where the Halmahera Plate, a northeaster extension of the Molucca Sea Plate is being subducted beneath Philippine Plate from the east and the Eurasian Plate from the west, with the underlying plate being melted by the heat of the Earth's interior, and lighter minerals bubbling up through the overlying plate to form volcanoes. The Halmahera volcanoes are located where the Philippine Plate is overriding the Molucca Sea Plate; to the west the Sangihe Islands lie where the Molucca Sea Plate is being overridden by the Eurasian Plate.

Diagrammatic representation of the subduction zones beneath Halmahera (middle), plus the Philippines (top) and Sulawesi (bottom), with the Eurasian Plate to the left, the Molucca Sea Plate in the middle, and the Philippine Plate to the right.  Hall & Wilson (2000).

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