M 7.6 Quake Rocks Northern Pakistan; Many Thousands Dead

A major earthquake (M 7.6) struck the Kashmir region of northern Pakistan and India on the morning of October 8, 2005. News reports indicate many thousands of people were killed and injured in Islamabad, Pakistan and the surrounding region. The quake appears to have had a strong component of steeply oriented reverse dip-slip movement, consistent with thrusting along the India-Euarsia continent-continent collisional plate boundary. The epicenter was located in the mountainous region 95 km NNE of Islamabad, Pakistan; the focus was apparently shallow (<10km). Almost two dozen significant aftershocks (M>5) have been located primarily to the northwest of the mainshock epicenter, suggesting propogation of the initial rupture from southeast to northwest. To get a better understanding of the geographic distribution of the epicenters of these quakes in relation to the geography of the region I suggest viewing the USGS M>2.5 Quakes KML network link for Google Earth.