An earthquake struck

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the northwestern region of the country, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

on February 14, 2004. Extensive damage occurred and 24 people lost their lives.

Tectonic setting

Northern Pakistan lies at the southern margin of the broad zone of

continental collision In geology, continental collision is a phenomenon of plate tectonics that occurs at convergent boundaries. Continental collision is a variation on the fundamental process of subduction, whereby the subduction zone is destroyed, mountains prod ...

between the

Eurasian Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelago ...

and

Indian Plate The Indian Plate (or India Plate) is a minor tectonic plate straddling the equator in the Eastern Hemisphere. Originally a part of the ancient continent of Gondwana, the Indian Plate broke away from the other fragments of Gondwana , began mov ...

s. The rate of convergence between these plates near this location is 38 mm per year. The main structures involved in accommodating this convergence are large

thrust fault A thrust fault is a break in the Earth's crust, across which older rocks are pushed above younger rocks. Thrust geometry and nomenclature Reverse faults A thrust fault is a type of reverse fault that has a dip of 45 degrees or less. If ...

s, such as the Main Central Thrust and the

Main Frontal Thrust The Main Frontal Thrust (MFT), also known as the Himalayan Frontal Thrust (HFT) is a geological fault in the Himalayas that defines the boundary between the Himalayan foothills and Indo-Gangetic Plain. The fault is well expressed on the surfac ...

. Within the frontal thrust zone, there are many individual thrust faults. Many damaging earthquakes have resulted from movement on such thrust faults, such as the

2005 Kashmir earthquake The 2005 Kashmir earthquake occurred at on 8 October in Pakistani-administered Azad Kashmir. It was centred near the city of Muzaffarabad, and also affected nearby Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and some areas of Indian-administered Jammu and ...

which caused the deaths of around 87,000 people.

Impact

Eleven people were killed and 63 were injured by collapsing houses. Thirteen others were also killed and one was left missing when a landslide hit a minibus and fell into a deep ravine in

Battagram Battagram ( ur, , ps, ) is a city and Union Council of Battagram District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan. It is located at 34°41'N 73°1'E and has an altitude of 1038 metres (3408 feet). Climate With a mild and generally warm a ...

. 564 houses were destroyed and 2,262 were damaged in the earthquake.

Response

The Pakistani government supported affected families by giving 100,000

rupees Rupee is the common name for the currencies of India, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka, and of former currencies of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (as the Gulf rupee), British East Africa, B ...

for a deceased family member and 20,000 rupees for every injured person.

References

2004 earthquakes Earthquakes in Pakistan 2004 disasters in Pakistan {{earthquake-stub

Tectonic setting

Impact

Response

See also

References