An earthquake measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale struck the Leh area of Ladakh on Monday, with tremors felt in Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir. The Director of the local MET Department, Mukhtar Ahmad, confirmed the earthquake’s epicenter at latitude 36.71 north and longitude 74.32 east, occurring 171 kilometers inside the Earth’s crust at 11:51 am. The intensity of the tremors varied across the affected regions.
No casualties or property damage have been reported following the earthquake in Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir. Both Ladakh and the Valley are situated in seismologically sensitive zones, prone to such natural occurrences. Notably, the region experienced a devastating earthquake in 2005, measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale, with Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-administered Kashmir as the epicenter.
The 2005 earthquake, with a moment magnitude of 7.6 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI, caused widespread destruction in Muzaffarabad and Balakot, affecting parts of Jammu and Kashmir as well. The seismic event also impacted neighboring countries like Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Xinjiang due to severe upthrust. Despite not being the strongest earthquake in magnitude, it was one of the deadliest disasters in the region, surpassing the 1935 Quetta earthquake in terms of casualties.
The official death toll from the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan ranged from 73,276 to 87,350, with some estimates exceeding 100,000 fatalities. In India, the earthquake claimed 1,360 lives and left 6,266 injured, while four individuals lost their lives in Afghanistan. The disaster left nearly 3.5 million people homeless and caused injuries to around 138,000 individuals, marking it as one of the deadliest natural calamities of the decade.
