M6.8 earthquake 120 km E of Manāli, India

Sunday, January 19, 1975, 08:02:02 UTC · 32.455°N, 78.430°E

A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck 120 km E of Manāli, India on Sunday, January 19, 1975, 08:02:02 UTC, at a depth of 33.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M7.9 on April 4, 1905.

Magnitude: 6.8; Strong · ms
Depth: 33 km; Shallow
Felt reports: 0; Did You Feel It?
Est. shaking: VIII; Severe (ShakeMap)
PAGER alert: None; Not issued
Tsunami: No flag; USGS feed

Outlined circle: this earthquakeDashed circle: 100 km aftershock search areaColoured lines: estimated shaking intensity (USGS ShakeMap)

In context

How big was it, and why here?

Energy released

239 kilotons of TNT

That is about 16 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 501 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

222 km

from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Eurasian and Indian plates. Earthquakes this far from a boundary happen on faults inside a plate, often less frequently but sometimes strongly.

Depth: shallow

33 km

Shallow earthquakes (under 70 km) produce the strongest surface shaking for their size, so they are the ones most likely to cause damage near the epicenter.

Did You Feel It?

Where it was felt

No “Did You Feel It?” reports have been published for this event yet. If you felt it, you can add your report on the USGS website.

I felt it — report to USGS ↗

USGS PAGER estimate

Who was exposed to shaking

USGS publishes PAGER impact estimates for significant earthquakes, usually within an hour. No PAGER estimate is available for this event.

After the main event

Aftershocks within 100 km

USGS lists 17 M2.5+ earthquakes within 100 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M6.0 on January 19, 1975. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.

Time after the mainshock on a logarithmic scale (first hours stretched), magnitude on the vertical axis. M2.5+ events from USGS.

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 41 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:

History · NOAA

Deadliest earthquakes in this area

NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 4 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 19,047 recorded deaths. The most severe:

1905M7.9
Kangra
4 Apr 1905 · 143 km away · intensity X
19,000 deaths$25 million damagetsunami
1975M6.8
Kashmir: Kinnaur District
19 Jan 1975 · 1 km away
47 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)
1803M7.5
Uttarakhand, Mathura (Muttra)
1 Sep 1803 · 171 km away
Severe damage ($5–24M)
1885
Kashmir
6 Jun 1885 · 284 km away
Severe damage ($5–24M)

NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.

Nearby trackers