2023 Badakhshan earthquake
On 21 March 2023, a magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan, with an intermediate depth of approximately 187 km (116 mi).Smaller shallow focus earthquakes are also observed in the region, particularly associated with north–south trending zones of right lateral strike-slip, such as the Chaman Fault, with an increasing degree of shortening to the north, together accommodating the highly oblique convergence between the Indian and the Eurasian plates.[8] Shaking was felt over an area 1,000 km (620 mi) wide by approximately 285 million people in Pakistan, India, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, and Turkmenistan, according to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre.[22] In Lower Dir District, one person died in a stampede related to the earthquake, a man and a woman were killed due to wall collapses and 43 people were injured from various causes.[29] Tremors from the earthquake were felt across parts of North India, particularly in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and the National Capital Region.[38] Despite the relatively mild intensity, the earthquake damaged a high-rise building in Shymkent, Kazakhstan, in the form of cracks on walls and falling plaster.