Indian, Eurasian plates collide, cause quake

Suresh Dharur

Tribune News Service

Hyderabad, April 25

The massive earthquake that struck Nepal today with a devastating impact was a typical Himalayan tremor caused due to “collision” of Indian and Eurasian plates.

“The two plates have an overall convergence rate of about 5 cm per year,” the Hyderabad-based National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) said. The institute’s seismic laboratory recorded today’s tremors and also several aftershocks that followed the main event.

“It is expected that several aftershocks will follow in the days to come. Earthquakes in the region are quite common. The largest earthquake of magnitude 8.4 occurred in 1934 on the Bihar-Nepal border which was extremely destructive,” NGRI Director Dr Ch Mohan Rao said.

The Assam-Tibet earthquake in 1950 and another in Shillong in 1897, each of magnitude 8.7, were the previous devastating tragedies.