{"id":52883,"date":"2025-09-02T20:35:40","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T15:05:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=52883"},"modified":"2025-09-08T10:52:29","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T05:22:29","slug":"earthquake-afghanistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/02-09-2025\/earthquake-afghanistan","title":{"rendered":"Earthquake in Afghanistan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS1\/ Geography<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The recent earthquake in Afghanistan, with a 6.0 magnitude, resulted in over 800 deaths and 2,000 injuries due to shallow depth and poor building structures.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What is an Earthquake?&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>An earthquake is the shaking of the ground caused by movement beneath the earth&#8217;s surface when <strong>two blocks slip past each other<\/strong> along a fault.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>This sudden movement <strong>releases stored elastic strain energy<\/strong> in the form of seismic waves, which causes ground shaking.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The location below the earth\u2019s surface where the earthquake starts is called the <strong>hypocenter<\/strong>, and the location directly above it on the surface of the earth is called the <strong>epicenter.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Earthquakes are measured<\/strong> using the <strong>Richter scale <\/strong>for magnitude and the<strong> Mercalli scale<\/strong> for intensity based on visible damage.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Reasons for Earthquake in Afghanistan<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The Himalaya and Hindu Kush mountains<\/strong>, and their foothills, where the impacted area in Afghanistan is located, are <strong>seismically active <\/strong>because of the ongoing <strong>friction<\/strong> between the <strong>Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img data-dominant-color=\"dfdcd1\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #dfdcd1;\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"542\" height=\"393\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Reasons-for-Earthquake-in-Afghanistan.png\" alt=\"reasons for earthquake in afghanistan\" class=\"not-transparent wp-image-52886\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Reasons-for-Earthquake-in-Afghanistan.png 542w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Reasons-for-Earthquake-in-Afghanistan-300x218.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 542px) 100vw, 542px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The northward movement of the Indian Plate (approx. 5 cm per year) exerts immense pressure, creating multiple <strong>fault lines across Afghanistan, Pakistan, and northern India.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The recent quake\u2019s epicenter was <strong>shallow<\/strong>, approximately <strong>8 km deep,<\/strong> which amplified the surface impact.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img data-dominant-color=\"b6dbd9\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"470\" height=\"851\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/09\/image-11.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"not-transparent wp-image-52885\" style=\"--dominant-color: #b6dbd9; width:438px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/09\/image-11.png 470w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/09\/image-11-166x300.png 166w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 470px) 100vw, 470px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Impact of earthquakes<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Earthquakes cause large-scale casualties<\/strong> due to collapsing buildings, landslides, tsunamis, and fires triggered by shaking.<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Displacement of people<\/strong>, loss of community structures, and psychological trauma are common consequences.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>In the case of Afghanistan<\/strong> the quake struck at a shallow depth, intensifying ground shaking and damage.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Fragile Construction:<\/strong> Use of mud-brick and stone in rural areas without engineering standards made buildings collapse-prone.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#fff2cc\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Seismic Waves<\/strong><br>&#8211; Seismic waves are <strong>energy waves generated by an earthquake<\/strong> that travels through the Earth&#8217;s layers, causing ground shaking.&nbsp;<br>&#8211; They are mainly classified into two types:<strong> body waves and surface waves.<\/strong><br>1. <strong>Body Waves: <\/strong>These waves travel through the interior of the Earth. They are faster and arrive before surface waves during an earthquake.&nbsp;<br>2. <strong>Surface waves<\/strong> travel along the Earth&#8217;s surface and are slower than body waves but cause the most damage due to their larger amplitude.&nbsp;<br><strong>Types of Body Waves<\/strong><br>&#8211; <strong>P-Waves (Primary Waves): <\/strong>They are the fastest seismic waves and the first to be recorded by seismographs. They move in a compressional or longitudinal manner.<br>1. P-waves can travel through solids, liquids, and gases.<br>&#8211; <strong>S-Waves (Secondary Waves):<\/strong> They move in a transverse manner, where particles move perpendicular to the wave&#8217;s direction of propagation.<br>1. S-waves can travel only through solids, as liquids and gases do not support shear stress.<br><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"548\" height=\"251\" ><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.downtoearth.org.in\/natural-disasters\/why-was-the-afghanistan-earthquake-so-deadly-a-disaster-resilience-expert-explains\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>DTE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">The recent earthquake in Afghanistan, with a 6.0 magnitude, resulted in over 800 deaths and 2,000 injuries due to shallow depth and poor building structures.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<h3><strong>What is an Earthquake?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">An earthquake is the shaking of the ground caused by movement beneath the earth&#8217;s surface when two blocks slip past each other along a fault.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">This sudden movement releases stored elastic strain energy in the form of seismic waves, which causes ground shaking.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">The location below the earth\u2019s surface where the earthquake starts is called the hypocenter, and the location directly above it on the surface of the earth is called the epicenter.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Earthquakes are measured using the Richter scale for magnitude and the Mercalli scale for intensity based on visible damage.<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/02-09-2025\/earthquake-afghanistan\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read\u00a0More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":52888,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/09\/earthquake-afghanistan.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52883"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53334,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52883\/revisions\/53334"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}