9 Earthquakes hit Assam in January 2026

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: Starting off the year 2026 with no respite in terms of earthquakes, Assam recorded 9 quakes, the highest among the states across the country, in the month of January itself. The Northeast region as a whole also recorded the highest number of 25 earthquakes in January 2026.

The figures were revealed in the Report of Earthquakes occurring in the month of January 2026, issued by the National Center for Seismology (NCS) under the Ministry of Earth Sciences. According to the NCS report on Real Time Earthquake Location, the Center, using its National Seismological Network of 169 stations spread all across the country, during the period January 1-31, 2026, located and disseminated a total number of 378 earthquakes, out of which 158 earthquakes have occurred in India and its neighbourhood region bounded by the coordinates 0°-40°N & 60°-100°E.

Regarding seismicity, during the same period, the majority of earthquakes within India and its neighbourhood region bounded by the coordinates 0°-40°N & 60°-100°E were located in the Hindu Kush region, North India (Ladakh, Jammu-Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand), and Northeast India (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim). Out of a total of 378 earthquakes, 21%, 36% and 33% of earthquakes occurred in the magnitude ranges of 3.0-3.5, 4.0-4.9 and 5.0-5.9, respectively. Ten earthquakes in the magnitude range 6.0-6.9 occurring during the period were outside the grid of 0°-40°N & 60°-100°E.

As for the details of earthquakes that occurred during the month of January 2026—a total of 64 earthquakes occurred within Indian territory, of which 9 earthquakes occurred in Assam and 6 each in Gujarat, Ladakh and Manipur during the period. Out of 64 earthquakes, 18 and 25 earthquakes occurred in the North and Northeast regions, respectively. There was no activity in the central part of the country.

Other than the 9 earthquakes in Assam and 6 in Manipur, the other NE states recorded 4 in Arunachal, 2 each in Meghalaya and Sikkim, and 1 each in Nagaland and Tripura.

Significantly, a magnitude 5.1 earthquake hit Assam on January 5 in the Morigaon region at longitude 26.37° N and latitude 92.29° E, with a focal depth of 50 km. The epicentre was approximately 40 km west of Nagaon, 60 km southwest of Tezpur, 62 km northeast of Guwahati, 100 km south of Bomdila and 105 km east of Nalbari. This event occurred in the area which falls in Seismic Zone VI (updated BIS map 2026), which is a seismically active region, and the event was widely felt in the Northeast region. The occurrence of earthquakes in the region is attributed mainly to the tectonic sources in the Himalayas, such as the Himalayan Frontal Thrust (HFT), the Main Boundary Thrust (MBT), the Main Central Thrust (MCT), the Kopili Fault and the Dhubri Fault.

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