Conference on Himalayan horizons to bring global experts to Dharamsala

The city is preparing to host the International Conference on ‘Himalayan Horizons: Tectonics, Sustainability and Resilience from the 1905 Kangra Earthquake to Today’ from April 4 to 7.

To be organised by the Department of Geology and Remote Sensing, Central University of Himachal Pradesh (CUHP), the event is of significance keeping in view the destruction the state had witnessed in the past three years. The conference will be held in collaboration with the SDMA, DDMA (Kangra), IIT-Dhanbad, IIT-Kharagpur, IIT-Guwahati, IISER-Kolkata, CSIR-CSIO, Chandigarh, and the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun.

With its dramatic landscape and proximity to major Himalayan fault systems, Dharamsala-Kangra has been chosen as the venue — a “natural laboratory” for Himalayan geodynamics and a region, whose catastrophic 1905 Kangra earthquake remains etched in global seismic history.

Prof Ambrish Kumar Mahajan, chairman of the organising committee, said, “This conference is important for a study on the tectonic framework in the Himalayas. The Himalayan mountain belt marks the convergence zone between the Indian and Eurasian plates. The continued convergence has produced three thrust fault systems — the Main Central Thrust (MCT), the Main Boundary Thrust (MBT) and the Main Frontal Thrust (MFT).”

“The region has witnessed numerous devastating earthquakes in historical times. These events have become a template for advancing our scientific understanding of earthquake genesis and for improving strategies for hazard management, sustainable development and resilience,” he added.