LAHORE: Around 20 earthquakes of low intensity shook Pakistan in the first half of February, an average of more than one tremor every day.
While recurring reports of earthquakes tend to make people anxious, experts say that these minor seismic activities are actually a positive side.
These shaking “are ahead” the high intensity earthquakes by constantly releasing accumulated energy within the plates.
In the Himalayas region, there is a great seismic activity in a cycle of approximately 100 years, experts said in Sunrise.
The latest important seismic events in the region were the earthquakes of 2005 and 2015.
Pakistan changing towards satellite monitoring to monitor seismic activity, improve early warning capabilities
The first charged around 80,000 lives in northern Pakistan, while the second caused generalized damage to the Afghanistan neighbor.
Eighty years before, the city of Quetta was leveled by an earthquake of seven magnitude, killing almost 35,000 people.
The minor tremors that intend between the main events break the impulse, avoiding a sudden and greater release of energy, according to experts that monitor the movements of the tectonic plates.
Tectonic positioning
Pakistan falls to three main tectonic plates: Arabic, Euro-Asian and Indian, who raise, subducts and provide energy and movement with each other, explains Muhammad Rean, a geological engineer.
Sindh and Punjab are located on the Indian plaque, while the western parts of Baluchistan and some areas of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa sit on the Eurasian plate, which mainly comprises the Iranian plateau and touches the Indian plaque.
This creates five seismic areas under Pakistan. Multiple failure intersection means that tectonic movements remain a frequent occurrence in the region.
The amount of this activity can be measured by the fact that around 978 replicas were recorded after the 2005 earthquake. At the end of the year, the number of replicas reached the amazing amount of 1,778.
Since then, satellite data has shown that the mountains on the epicenter have increased by a few meters.
The movement and mountain formation are linked to earthquakes as the seismic activity pushes the rocks up, creating giant and steep structures.
“This Himalayan movement shows that they are still in a formative stage. In other words, the same region where Pakistan exists is still being formed and is fluid, ”explains Rehan.
‘Routine matter’
According to Volcano Discovery, a website that monitors earthquakes, the intensity of 11 of the 20 shocks reported in February was more than four on the Richter scale. Seven of them fell between three and four intensity scale and two between two and three.
Since January, the main urban centers, including Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Quetta, Swat, Zhob, Sherani, Sibi and Kalat, have been beaten by tremors of different intensities.
Experts said Sunrise That the increase in the reports of the seismic activities is due to the fact that many more tremors are now detected, including minors, due to the development of geological report technology.
Najeb Ahmed, director of the National Seismic Monitoring Center, said that the general perception of greater seismic activity in the recent past was due to two reasons.
“In the first place, it is the network and expanding monitoring reports. Second, social networks are disseminating these reports from everywhere. “
According to Mr. Ahmed, from the 2005 earthquake, Pakistan has established 35 well -equipped monitoring centers capable of measuring tremors between 1.5 and 8.5 intensity.
Even the movement that is not felt on the ground due to its depth can now be registered and informed, he added.
Many of these cases, even if they are “insignificant”, are informed by the media.
“Otherwise, only along the Kush Hindu plates, we had been observing six to seven movements every week,” said Ahmed. “It’s a routine issue.”
Naveed Munawer, deputy director of the Geological Service of Pakistan, who studies the geology of the country, also said that nothing unusual has happened under the surface of the Earth since the beginning of this year.
“With the expansion of observatories, both in terms of numbers and teams, the results are quickly reaching the public,” he said.
Early warning
Pakistan is now moving to the global navigation satellite system (GNSS), which acts as an early warning method for earthquakes.
The GNSS, which refers to any satellite constellation that provides GPS and navigation services, tracks the energy collection along and between the tectonic plates and indicates the hot points in advance.
Of the 20 planned observatories, 12 are already in their place, while the rest would be established in the next two or three months, Munawer added.
“It is possible that the system cannot predict the exact time of the earthquake, but would emit an early warning about construction pressure.”
He said that geological monitoring in Pakistan was not yet as advanced as in developed countries, but the country “is trying to catch up.”
Posted in Dawn, February 22, 2025
