Monday, March 1, 2010

Earthquake! What's going on?

Two very large and damaging earthquakes have happened in the last few months and people are asking why so many? Is the world ending? Is it a plot by Aliens to make us crazy and paranoid? Is California about to fell in to the ocean??

While it is possible that one of those things is true, it isn't really very likely. And there are actually large earthquakes every year, it's just that these last 2 have caused a lot of damage and injured or killed a lot of people. Large earthquakes that happen in places where few people live happen every year and we barely hear about it because it didn't impact human lives.

On average there is about 1 earthquake of magnitude 8 or greater every year. That is large enough to cause major damage to structures. We have had 2 so far this year, but there were none in 2008 or 2009. In 2007 there were 4 magnitude 8 or greater earthquakes. There are also 12-14 magnitude 7.0-7.9 earthquakes every year. Those can still cause large amounts of damage, particularly in areas with low quality construction (like Haiti).

Every year there are thousands of earthquakes with smaller magnitudes, up to 15,000 large enough to noticed by people near the epicenter. That is a lot of earthquakes, and most of them we never hear anything about.

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