GEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION OF 5.6 MW MIRPUR EARTHQUAKE, NORTHWESTERN HIMALAYAS, PAKISTAN

A devastating earthquake of 5.6 Mw occurred in the Kashmir Himalayas at the axis of Hazara Kashmir Syntaxis on September 24, 2019 caused massive destruction. The tremors were felt in a radius of ~100km with damage taking place in area of 700km2 including life losses. The epicenter was located near Mirpur, Kashmir at a depth of 10km, whereas a peak ground acceleration in the range of 0.35g within limits of <0.0017 to>1.24g. The earthquake affected area lies at the fold axis of Hazara Kashmir Syntaxis, which is major structural antiform involved in different orogenic episodes and tectonic phases since Precambrian. The Mirpur Earthquake is resultant of an onward collision between Indian and Eurasian plates on a main thrust fault (i.e., Samwal Fault) in the epicentral region. The seismogenic Samwal Fault is extending as WNW-ESE exposed near Samwal Village with a surface rupture and sporadic slope failures appearing at various places. The fault plane is dipping SW at the eastern end and NE at western side. This study applying the remote sensing techniques which used to analyze the causative fault by using Landsat Imagery and Digital Elevation Model in correlation with the fieldwork observations. The Samwal Fault was delineated, based on morphological peculiarities and straightness on the satellite imagery, which marked a major topographic front in the study area. The main characteristics associated with 2019 Mirpur Earthquake is the liquefaction induced lateral spreading along the Upper Jhelum Canal, which caused an extensive damage to infrastructures. The other damages were mainly occurred along the main fault line, which caused human fatalities due to the damaging of infrastructures. The factors responsible for the damages are foundation failure, lack of structural integrity and inappropriate construction material.