So many earthquakes!

[Minnie824]

I know earthquakes happen daily around the world, but does anyone else think we've just seen a ton of huge earthquakes lately? So, within the last month there was Haiti, Chili, Illinois(yeah, not huge, but SO rare), Turkey yesterday, Hawaii today. And all pretty big too. Maybe I shouldn't have watched that 2012 movie this weekend. haha.

 

[FINFAN]

yep, and we STARTED it all this year here in Illinois...oops! I know what you mean tho, such frequent natural disasters , odd...well, maybe not...the media informs us much quicker now more than ever...but yeah, kinda freaky.

 

[ZachnElli]

We even had one in Nebraska this past fall, yes it was very small, lol.

 

[MosMom]

I think it is summer of the sharks syndrome. I like to browse usgs.gov and there are often pretty strong earthquakes. I don't think Illinois earthquakes are that rare. Our area has a big fault line. I've lived in the Indiana/Illinois area nearly my entire life and I've been in 5 earthquakes here. First was when I was about 12 and I'm now 34. The most recent was within the last few years. The one off the coast of Hawaii was a 4.4. That is less than the one we had here a few years ago that was barely on the national news!

 

[MosMom]

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/quakes_all.php

Look at all the quakes in the last 7 days. That is pretty standard though compared to what I've seen before.

 

[Wishing on a star]

I know that, technically, they say that there has not been an increase in earthquake activity... But, seriously, yes, I feel like something is going on.

 

[MosMom]

Maybe Jack Van Impe is finally about to be vindicated.

 

[happygirl]

Hawaii had an earthquake

 

[Misty89]

IMHO

the media is reporting more, because of the Mayan calender/ 2012 theroy.
it makes people scared, and gets alot of viewers and readers. - we do not know if it's going to happen or not.
Now, in a year from now- if we see more global changes, I am going to wonder if mabye there is some truth to the 2012 thing. then i will live my last year to the fullest.

 

[BCDisneyFanatic]

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/quakes_all.php

Look at all the quakes in the last 7 days. That is pretty standard though compared to what I've seen before.

Yeah, the vast majority of those are aftershocks in Chile (trust me, I've felt a heck of a lot of them!) That's to be expected after a large quake, although the number is dwindling rapidly, as well as their intensity.

According to the USGS, we can expect yearly:

Magnitude Number
8..... 1
7-7.9 17
6-6.9 134
5-5.9 1319
4-4.9 13,000
3-3.9 130,000
2-2.9 1,300,000

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqarchives/year/eqstats.php

So, statistically we would expect at least 11 earthquakes a month with a magnitude of 6 or greater. If you ignore the aftershocks in Chile, I don't think that the last few weeks have really been that exceptional. We're all just paying that much more attention to it!

On a side note...has anyone else filled in the forms "Did You Feel It" on the USGS site after an earthquake? It's really quite cool, in that it will give you an estimate of the intensity you felt (Mercalli scale), and allows you to be part of the process. You can then see all the responses from surrounding areas. This is the "Did you Feel It" for the 8.8 earthquake (my response is one of the ones for Region Metropolitana Santiago, with an intensity of VIII).

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/dyfi/events/us/2010tfan/us/index.html

 

[Amy8888]

I'm not sure we should see each earthquake as an isolated event. DH (who watches Discovery Science all the time...so that's where his expertise comes from! ) saw some earthquake expert talk about how land shifts in one part of the world can set off something like a chain reaction all over the globe.

 

[Handbag Lady]

I for one am glad that they are reporting them as they happen. Living in the land of earthquakes, I realized after the Haiti quake that I needed to cycle through my water supply so that it is all fresh.

 

[rparmfamily]

I blame it on the Year of the Tiger LOL.

 

[cabanafrau]

I've been wondering about the Pacific rim ever since the tsunami hit a few years back. Seems quite active to me.

 

[rparmfamily]

Hawaii had an earthquake

Yup, last night on the Big Island.

 

[Muushka]

Earthquakes? Caused by global warming.

 

[LuvOrlando]

I think that when one part of a tectonic plate shifts it creates friction elsewhere and when that other tension releases it creates tension somewhere else, on & on until it all settles. The plates are like side by side egg shells sitting in a bowl, if you mess with one the others will all respond for a while until harmony is reached... at least that's how I showed it to my kids.

All the mountains of the world were caused by the plates shifting & sliding over & onto each other through eons of time. At one time they were supposedly connected in a gigantic landmass called Pangaea, this theory is supported by similar fossilized records found in dissimilar regions of the world. I think Plate Tectonics is fascinating and definitely worth a read through.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

On a side note...has anyone else filled in the forms "Did You Feel It" on the USGS site after an earthquake? It's really quite cool, in that it will give you an estimate of the intensity you felt (Mercalli scale), and allows you to be part of the process. You can then see all the responses from surrounding areas. This is the "Did you Feel It" for the 8.8 earthquake (my response is one of the ones for Region Metropolitana Santiago, with an intensity of VIII).

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/dyfi/events/us/2010tfan/us/index.html

I always fill this out when I feel an earthquake. It helps with the recordkeeping of how intense the earthquake is in that area & surrounding areas.

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

Didn't Chile move like ten feet, that seems like some real movement.

 

[charming23]

I think all these earthquakes are just because the one in Chile was so large. I think that it is a good thing that none of the earthquakes that followed were as large as Chile's.

Now if we get a 8.8 earthquake here in Ohio then I will begin to worry.