September 28, 2013 Earthquake: Awaran, Pakistan

Reference #13456:

At least 22 people killed, 50 injured and many houses destroyed or damaged in Awaran. Felt (IV) at Karachi. Also felt at Khuzdar, Larkana, Quetta and Rohri.

Tectonic Summary

The September 28, 2013 M6.8 earthquake in south-central Pakistan occurred as the result of oblique-strike-slip motion at shallow crustal depths. This earthquake is an aftershock located approximately 30 km to the north-northeast of the September 24, 2013 M7.7 event, which struck with a similar faulting mechanism. As with the September 24 event, the September 28 earthquake mechanism and location are consistent with rupture within the Eurasia plate above the Makran subduction zone. The event occurred within the transition zone between northward subduction of the Arabia plate beneath the Eurasia plate and northward collision of the India plate with the Eurasia plate. On a broad scale, the tectonics of southern and central Pakistan reflect a complex plate boundary where the India plate slides northward relative to the Eurasia plate in the east, and the Arabia plate subducts northward beneath the Eurasia plate in the Makran (western Pakistan). These motions typically result in north-south to northeast-southwest strike-slip motion at the latitude of the September 24 and 28 earthquakes. Further, more in-depth studies are on going to identify the precise fault associated with this event and its mainshock.

Reference #10757:

Powerful new Pakistan earthquake kills at least 22. A 6.8-magnitude earthquake hit 96 kilometers northeast of the district of Awaran already devastated by an earlier quake... An AFP reporter in Awaran said Saturday that hundreds of patients being treated in the aftermath of the previous quake fled a hospital in panic as the new tremor hit. "We are checking but no reports of losses have yet been received," Jan Mohammad Buledi, spokesman for the provincial government of Baluchistan told AFP. (reference #10757)