Assam-Tibet earthquake (1950)
Also called: Medog earthquake, Independence Day earthquake · Topic: Interior of the Earth: Earthquakes, Volcanoes and the Layered Earth · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The Assam-Tibet earthquake struck on 15 August 1950 in the eastern Himalaya, near the Assam-Tibet border. Its magnitude was about 8.6, which makes it the strongest earthquake ever recorded on land. It came from the collision of the Indian plate with the Eurasian plate. The shaking set off huge landslides. These blocked rivers, and when the blockages later burst, they caused floods downstream.
Example
In Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, landslide debris dammed rivers in the hills. When these natural dams broke, the floods swept into the plains of Assam.
Don't confuse with
- Bihar-Nepal earthquake (1934): this was another great Himalayan quake, but it was further west, in the central Himalaya. The 1950 quake hit the eastern end of the Himalaya and was the larger of the two.
Related concepts
- Alpine-Himalayan belt
- Seismic gap
- Gorkha earthquake (2015)
- Turkey-Syria earthquake (2023)
- Myanmar earthquake (2025)