Pakistan - Afghanistan rocked by earthquake

Earthquake of magnitude of 7.7 on rector scale hits Pakistan and Afghanistan. The epicenter was 60 km from Chitral, Pakistan. In Pakistan the death toll is 260+ and 1600+ injured and in Afghanistan the count is 141 and the exact figure of injured are not available as the rescue operations are going on. 

Earthquake hits at 7.7 magnitude and the reduced to 7.6 and then to 7.5.

US Geological Survey says in its report that earthquake near the HinduKush region of Afghanistan occurred as the result of reverse faulting at intermediate depths, approximately 210 km below the HinduKush Range in northeastern Afghanistan. Reverse faulting is a geologic fault in which the hanging wall moves upward relative to the foot wall. Reverse faults occur where two blocks of rock are forced together by compression. Focal mechanisms indicate rupture occurred on either a near-vertical reverse fault or a shallowly dipping trust fault. At the latitude of the earthquake, the India subcontinent moves northward and collides with Eurasia at a velocity of about 37 mm/yr. Active faults and their resultant earthquakes in northern Pakistan and adjacent parts of India and Afghanistan are the direct result of the convergence between the India and Eurasia plates. This collision is causes uplift that produces the highest mountain peaks in the world including the Himalayan, the Karakoram, the Pamir and the HinduKush ranges. “Earthquakes such as this event, with focal depths between 70 and 300 km, are commonly termed “intermediate-depth” earthquakes. Intermediate-depth earthquakes represent deformation within subducted lithosphere rather than at the shallow plate interfaces between sub ducting and overriding tectonic plates. They typically cause less damage on the ground surface above their foci than is the case with similar magnitude shallow-focus earthquakes, but large intermediate-depth earthquakes may be felt at great distance from their epicenters. “Deep-focus” earthquakes, those with focal depths greater than 300 km, also occur beneath northeastern part of Afghanistan. Earthquakes have been reliably located to depths of just over 300 km in this region.” The mountainous region is seismically active, with earthquakes the result of the Indian subcontinent driving into and under the Eurasian landmass. Sudden tectonic shifts can cause enormous and destructive releases of energy.