AN EARTHQUAKE that hit the central Himalayas in 1505 was much larger than previously thought, according to newly translated historical records from Tibet.
Roger Bilham of the University of Colorado at Boulder scoured documents that were recently released by China, and found the quake levelled towns in a 600-kilometre swathe along the border of Tibet and India. He estimates that the quake must have been of at least magnitude 8.2.
Such a shaker would probably have ruptured the surface and also involved around 9 metres of slip on the fault, Bilham says. Since then, the Indian plate has been pushing…
