Coulomb stress change due to 2005 Kashmir earthquake and implications for future seismic hazards

We calculate static stress change due to the 2005 Kashmir earthquake (M = 7.6). We suggest that the earthquake caused significant increase in stress in the Indo-Kohistan seismic zone (IKSZ) region, lying to the NW of the rupture and moderate increase in the adjacent Himalayan region, lying to the SE of rupture. Thus, these regions have been brought closer to the failure. On the other hand, the Salt Range region lies in the stress shadow of the earthquake, implying that future earthquakes in this region will be inhibited. We find that this earthquake may not be compared with typical Himalayan earthquake, and hence, rupture features of this earthquake may not be directly applicable to the earthquakes of the Himalayan region.