HIMACHAL PRADESH, INDIA—Temples built by the rulers of the Chamba Kingdom between the seventh and eleventh centuries A.D. were analyzed by Mayank Joshi and V.C. Thakur of the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology in an effort to assess the risk of future earthquakes in the region. Recent catastrophic earthquakes in nearby areas have killed tens of thousands of people, but the town of Chamba was unharmed. Chamba’s ancient buildings, however, do exhibit signs of earthquake damage, including tilted pillars on the Lakshmi Narayan temples and shifted rooftops on the Bharmour temple. “In case of the ground settling, there would not be a preferred orientation. It will be randomly oriented,” Joshi told Live Science. Joshi and Thakur suggest that the damage to the Chamba temples occurred in the 1555 Kashmir earthquake, whose epicenter is thought to be in the Srinagar Valley, some 125 miles away from Chamba. In fact, a temple built in 1762 showed no signs of earthquake damage. “This shows that the area has enough potential to produce great earthquakes similar to [the] 2005 Kashmir earthquake,” Joshi said. To read more about archaeology in India, go to "Oceans of Dharma."