Nine earthquakes in around 30 days: What’s the reason behind frequent tremors in Pakistan? Is it related to nuclear tests or…

New Delhi: Pakistan was hit by an earthquake of magnitude 4.2 on Friday, May 30. This information was shared by the National Center for Seismology (NCS). Earlier on Thursday, May 29, an earthquake of magnitude 4.4 on Richter scale struck Pakistan.

It is worth noting that Pakistan has been hit by at least nine earthquakes in the month of May 2025 alone. The range of magnitude has been from 4.0 to 5.7. These have affected areas from Islamabad and Peshawar to Faisalabad and the Hindu Kush region and has created a sense of anxiety among the people.

However, it has also highlighted a long-standing geological vulnerability which raises the question; Why is Pakistan hit by earthquakes so often?

The answer is the country’s geography as it sits atop one of the most seismically active collision zones in the world. In other words, Pakistan is located at the collision boundary of two massive tectonic plates, the Indian Plate and the Eurasian Plate.

The Indian Plate is moving northward at a rate of about 5 cm per year, colliding with the Eurasian Plate. This movement created the Himalayas and continues to drive seismic activity across the region and the collision causes stress to build up in the Earth’s crust, which is eventually released as earthquakes. Northern Pakistan, especially regions like Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Balochistan lie within this active deformation zone.

Several earthquakes that occurred in May originated in the Hindu Kush region of northeastern Afghanistan, just across Pakistan’s border. This area is infamous for deep and powerful earthquakes, often felt throughout northern Pakistan.

Pakistan is riddled with major fault lines which are like pressure valves for the tectonic stress building up in the region. When they slip or rupture, earthquakes occur.

There have been reports that Pakistan may have conducted several new underground nuclear tests, causing these earthquakes. The same was said about Iran when it experienced low-intensity earthquakes amid heightened tension with Israel.

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