DNA Explainer: Why India is witnessing earthquakes so frequently? Know reason behind tremors in Delhi-NCR

Since the past few months, north India including Delhi-NCR has been witnessing frequent earthquakes. On Tuesday as well, the region felt strong tremors when an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.8 hits Nepal. Last time, earthquake tremors were felt in Delhi and surrounding areas like Noida, Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Gurgaon etc on January 5. 

But why are there frequent earthquakes in India and what causes an earthquake?

An earthquake is caused by tremors due to the movement of the tectonic plates of the earth. These plates are deep down inside the uppermost layer of the earth called the crust. When two blocks of the Earth’s surface move against each other, it causes an earthquake.

An earthquake originates from 'focus', a place inside Earth’s crust. The point on the Earth’s surface directly above the focus is the epicentre. When energy is released at the focus, seismic waves travel outward from that point in all directions. 

India's northern region has the Himalayas which are the newest mountains. The Indian plate moved towards the Nepalese plate, which led to the formation of the Himalayas.

The Himalayas lies between North India to Northeast India. India experiences frequent earthquakes in these regions because this part of India and Nepal are placed on the boundary (fault zones) of two massive tectonic plates. The collision of the two plates also made both countries vulnerable to earthquakes.

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