Abstract
<jats:p>Himachal Pradesh is located in the seismically active Himalayan region, resulting from the ongoing collision between the Indian plate and the Eurasian plate. Considering the State's rapid development, it is important to analyse the seismic activity of Himachal Pradesh to ensure sustainable development, infrastructure safety and disaster preparedness. Despite the current literature addressing multiple aspects of seismic activity in Himachal Pradesh, deeper study is required to examine recent patterns, to anticipate future seismic hazards and to improve mitigation measures. The objective of this research was to develop a spatial variation map based on seismic energy released, capturing hazard levels across the entire State using a seismic event catalogue from 1800 to 2024. The study area is classified as four regions based on the spatial variation of the seismic energy map. This study analyses Gutenberg-Richter (G-R) parameters and Completeness Magnitude for four regions to detect seismic activity. The GutenbergRichter constants are a = 9.56, b = 1.55; a = 6.60, b = 1.06; a = 3.43, b = 0.46; and a = 9.22, b = 1.49, with corresponding magnitude completeness Mc values of 4.8, 4.8, 2.7 and 4.8 for the North-West, North-East, South-West and South-East regions of Himachal Pradesh respectively. The North-West region is found to be more active, with the seismic energy release (J) found to be 1.15×1016, followed by the North-East, South-East and South-West regions with energy releases (J) of 6.18×1014, 4.15×1014 and 1.66×10 13 respectively. These findings help in the development of hazard maps and peak ground acceleration (PGA) estimates for various regions, facilitating improved earthquake-resistant design and effective disaster management.</jats:p>