The Chamoli earthquake in the northern part of Uttar Pradesh is an important event from the point of view of seismic hazard and risk assessment in the Himalaya. Tectonically, it is significant due to its location in the 'central seismic gap', a 700-km-long segment between the 1905 Kangra (M 8.6) and the 1934 Bihar (M 8.4) earthquakes. Occurrence of two moderate earthquakes (1991 Uttarkashi and 1999 Chamoli) within a period of nine years naturally raises concern about the seismogenic potential of the region. In this paper we present observations made during the post-earthquake survey around Chamoli, and address some issues regarding the regional seismic hazard.