Himalayan Main Frontal Thrust
Himalaya · continental collision · 2049.1 km of mapped active fault in 10 traces
unknown as of 7 November 2026.
no baseline good enough to compare against; the catalogue holds too few events on this system to say what normal is
| Window | the last 30.0 days |
|---|---|
| Earthquakes counted | 0 at M4.5 or above |
| Expected in that window | 0.00 |
What this system normally does
From 1995 to 2025 the catalogue holds 3 earthquakes of M4.5 or larger attributable to this system: about 0.10 a year. That figure is what "elevated" on this page is measured against.
Confidence in that rate is low: the catalogue holds too few events here for the average to carry much weight, and this system is never called elevated on the strength of it alone.
The fault itself
| Mapped length | 2049.1 km |
|---|---|
| Traces | 10 |
| Tectonic setting | continental collision |
| Slip types | Reverse |
| Depth attributed to it | down to 50.0 km |
| Extent | 26.67 to 31.94 latitude, 75.72 to 95.34 longitude |
Recorded history
NOAA's hazard records hold 3 significant earthquakes and one tsunami attributed to this system since 1833.
The deadliest was the 15 January 1934 magnitude 8.0 earthquake (Nepal; India: Bihar), which killed 10,600 people.
The strongest earthquake on record here was magnitude 8.6, on 15 August 1950 (India-china).
Across the entries that record a death toll, 12,130 people died.
| Date | What | Where | Toll |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 January 1934 | magnitude 8.0 earthquake | Nepal; India: Bihar | 10,600 dead, damage over $25 million |
| 15 January 1934 | tsunami | Bihar-nepal, Ganges River | 10,600 dead, damage over $25 million |
| 15 August 1950 | magnitude 8.6 earthquake | India-china | 1,530 dead, $20 million damage |
| 30 May 1833 | magnitude 7.5 earthquake | India: Lohughar | - |
A dash means NOAA recorded no number, not that nobody died. Older entries are fewer because fewer were written down, not because less happened.
Recorded history: NOAA NCEI hazard databases, public domain, retrieved 2026-10-22.
Where these numbers come from
Fault geometry, length and segment counts: GEM Global Active Faults Database (GEM GAF-DB), GEM Foundation, https://github.com/GEMScienceTools/gem-global-active-faults Licence: CC-BY-SA-4.0. Figures derived from it here are offered under the same licence. Earthquake counts, magnitudes and depths: United States Geological Survey, public domain. The activity judgement is ours, computed from those two inputs, and is not a statement by either agency.