The quake happened in one of the world’s most active seismic zones, the great transglobal mountain belt that stretches from the Pyrenees in the far west through the Alps, Caucasus and Himalaya ranges to the forested hills of south-east Asia.
Since the age of the dinosaurs, which came to an end 65 million years ago, some of the greatest tectonic upheavals in our planet’s history have taken place along this belt. In a process called plate tectonics, sometimes referred to as “continental drift”, the continent of Africa is moving northwards into Europe, and what was once a huge island – India – has collided with the underbelly of Asia.