Megaquakes may hit Bhutan

Since more than a year a temporary seismological network is operated in Bhutan by the Swiss Seismological Service, in collaboration with the Seismology and Geodynamics Group of ETH Zürich and the support of local authorities.

Results stemming from the first paleoseismological investigation in the country, carried out in collaboration with French colleagues in Montpellier, now show that Bhutan does not constitute a seismic gap (or zone of relatively lower activity), which overwrites the current knowledge. The evidence comes from river deposits that point to two major earthquakes of magnitude 8 or larger in the past 1000 years. New seismological data provided by the network will allow to link past and current seismicity and to accurately estimate earthquake hazard in the Eastern Himalayas.

Read the interview with György Hetényi, leader of Project GANSSER, in the ETH News here

More information on Project GANSSER in Bhutan can be found here