Earthquakes in Pakistan: Live Map & the Himalayan Collision Zone

Pakistan sits at the collision zone between the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates, one of the most seismically dangerous boundaries on Earth. The north, including Kashmir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Hindu Kush, absorbs the brunt of this convergence, while the western province of Balochistan sits above the separate Makran subduction zone, where the Arabian plate slides beneath Eurasia offshore.

On 8 October 2005, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck the Kashmir region near Muzaffarabad — Pakistan's deadliest natural disaster on record. Official figures put the toll at 87,350 dead, with independent estimates above 100,000, and roughly 3.5 million left homeless across the mountainous north. Read the full account of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake.

Balochistan has its own violent history: the 1935 Quetta earthquake (M7.7) killed an estimated 30,000-60,000 people, one of the deadliest quakes of the 20th century, while the 2013 Awaran earthquake (M7.7) struck a remote, sparsely populated stretch of the province and still killed over 800. The Pakistan Meteorological Department runs the national seismic network, but much of the country's housing stock — especially in rural and mountainous areas — remains highly vulnerable to strong shaking.