IS THE QUIESCENCE OF MAJOR EARTHQUAKES (M-GREATER-THAN-OR-EQUAL-TO-7.5) SINCE 1952 IN THE HIMALAYA AND NORTHEAST INDIA REAL

The earthquake catalog for the Himalaya and the northeast India region s (latitude 20 degrees N to 38 degrees N and longitude 75 degrees E to 100 degrees E, comprising of portions of the Himalaya and Arakan Yoma fold belt) for the period 1897 to May 1995 shows that there have been 14 major earthquakes (M greater than or equal to 7.5) during the peri od 1897 to 1952 and no major earthquakes after 1952. To investigate th e possibility that this quiescence is an artifact of nonuniform magnit ude scales over the period of study, we examined three global catalogs and found that there is indeed an absence of major earthquakes after 1952.