Strong earthquake in Gilgit-Baltistan severs Karakoram Highway, damages homes

A powerful earthquake struck Pakistan-administered Kashmir’s Gilgit-Baltistan region on January 19, killing one man, injuring several others and triggering landslides that blocked the Karakoram Highway and multiple local roads. The tremor caused the collapse or damage of dozens of mud-brick houses and cattle sheds across several districts, cutting communities off from emergency services and commercial routes.

Regional authorities identified the lone fatality as Khush Baig, 60, of Bilhanz. He was struck by falling rock during a landslide near Barswat Lake in the Ishkoman Valley of Ghizer district. Local media and district officials reported four people injured in total. One of the injured, Afzal Khan, 35 and a resident of Barswat, was treated initially at Imit Dispensary and later transferred to the District Headquarters Hospital in Gahkuch in stable condition. Emergency responders said Rescue 1122 had moved two children and a woman who were hurt in Chipurson village to the Rural Health Centre in Sost.

Seismological agencies provided differing initial measurements, a common occurrence in the first hours after an event. Reported magnitudes ranged from about 5.7 to 6.0, and focal depths were variously reported between roughly 10 and 35 kilometers. The European-Mediterranean Seismological Center characterized the event as magnitude 6.0 with a depth near 35 km, while Pakistan’s Meteorological Department cited a shallower hypocenter at about 10 km and placed the epicenter roughly 80 km from Gilgit. Other international bulletins, including the German Research Center for Geosciences and the US Geological Survey, registered magnitudes in the 5.7–5.8 range and located the epicenter in neighboring north Kashmir and Leh-adjacent areas. Agencies agreed the quake was a strong shallow-to-intermediate shock in the greater Gilgit-Baltistan and north Kashmir belt.

Geographically the impact spanned Gilgit, Hunza, Nagar and Ghizer districts. Dozens of kacha, or mud-brick, houses and outbuildings were reported damaged or collapsed, along with rockfall and landslide impacts to public and private property. Authorities deployed government machinery to clear landslides and reopen the Karakoram Highway, the main overland trade artery on the China-Pakistan route. Initial reports said travel was halted in places and some valleys remained temporarily isolated as rescue teams assessed damage and restored access.

The economic implications are immediate and potentially durable. The Karakoram Highway carries critical freight for regional trade and for projects linked to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor; prolonged closures would raise transport costs, delay deliveries and increase the cost of reconstruction in remote, hazard-prone communities. For local economies the loss of homes, cattle sheds and seasonal stock undermines incomes and heightens short-term humanitarian needs.

Gilgit-Baltistan sits in an active seismic belt and Pakistan has a recent history of deadly earthquakes, most notably the magnitude 7.6 rupture in 2005 that caused catastrophic loss of life and long-term economic damage. Officials on the ground continue to tally casualties and property losses, and consolidated seismic parameters may be revised after agency reprocessing. The event underlines persistent policy needs: investment in resilient transport corridors, enforcement of seismic-safe building practices, prepositioned emergency funds and faster debris-clearance capacity to limit disruption to trade and livelihoods in high-risk mountain corridors.