By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
Geologists have predicted 8-maginitude earthquake in Uttarakhand many times.
But going by the number and magnitude of earthquakes in the past one decade, Hindu Kush belt in Afghanistan has also emerged as a high seismic zone. The 5.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Hindu Kush in the northeastern Afghanistan on Friday night has claimed 12 lives.
Media reports said eight members of a family were killed in a house collapse in the Gosfand Dara area of Kabul Province. Four more people were killed elsewhere in the region. The epicentre of the earthquake was near Jurm area of Afghanistan with a depth of 186.4 Km. The tremor was also felt in north India including Delhi and Pakistan.
The Hindu Kush region has been witnessing umpteen earthquakes continuously due to the major seismic fault.
The Northeastern Afghanistan, near the border with Tajikistan and Pakistan, is an earthquake prone area, and routinely experiences quakes of magnitude 5-6 or above. The data of Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Centre revealed countless quakes of magnitude 5 and above in the past many years. Some of the earthquakes in Hindu Kush areas are so strong that the tremors are also felt in north India.
But geologists said most of the earthquakes in Hindu Kush are friendly in nature. “They may scare people even in Delhi but actually they create hardly any damage,” said Dr. Vineet Kumar Gahalaut, Director Dehradun-based Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG).
On the other hand, Uttarakhand which is highly prone to earthquakes has witnessed very few earthquakes with magnitude 5 and above in the past one decade. The last big earthquake of 5.8 magnitude was felt on Feb 6, 2017 with epicentre in Rudraprayag district. Since then, most of the earthquakes which hit Uttarakhand were mostly small.
Dr Gahlaut said the geological process through which the earthquakes strike in Hindu Kush are totally different from that of Uttarakhand.