Over 250 Significant Earthquakes Shake World in Past 7 Days

[tekisui]

Source: Epoch Times

CARACAS, Venezuela —In the past seven days there have been more than 258 recorded earthquakes of a magnitude higher than 4.5 on the Richter's scale. Chile alone has already experienced 81 aftershocks at a rate of 4 per hour since the first big earthquake of 8.8 erupted on Saturday, Feb. 27. Tsunami alarms have sounded across the world.

Apart from the abundant seismic activity in Chile, moderate to strong earthquakes have occurred in several countries, among them: Ecuador (M5.3; 28/2/2010), Argentina (M6.3; 27/2/2010), Afghanistan (M5.7; 27/2/2010), Philippines (M5.7;26/02/2010), Japan/Ryukyu Islands (M7.0; 26/2/2010), Guatemala (M5.6; 23/2/2010), Haiti(M4.7; 23/2/2010), Iran(M5.1; 23/2/2010), Tonga(M5.7; 22/2/2010 with replicas of approximately higher than M5), and 2 earthquakes in Mainland China of M5.4 and M5.0 in the regions of Xizang, Yunnan on Feb. 26 and 27.

more: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/30542/

[Fridays Child]

1. Is this unusual?

A little context from the author of the article would have been helpful.

[SidDithers]

2. No, it's not unusual...

Dozens of earthquakes happen daily around the globe.

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

Sid

[tekisui]

5. If you go past this week, they aren't as frequent.

Dozens of quakes do happen. But, hundreds above 4.5 don't. There has been a significant increase in activity this week.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

8. Have you got any legitimate source to back that up?

Something peer-reviewed?

[The Straight Story]

14. Avg per week in CA > 4 are 1.3 per week

http://seismo.berkeley.edu/faq/rate_of_seism.html

Not sure off hand for the rest of the world, might try checking out some web search engine though.

[SidDithers]

11. Most of the "hundreds" are aftershocks of the big quake in Chile...

again, not unexpected.

Sid

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

7. No.

NOT having them would be unusual.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

3. Epoch Times?

Rly?

[tekisui]

6. I've never seen it before.

I thought it was worth noting, though.

[Birthmark]

4. It's the end of the world

I'd advise all to make their piece with the Flying Spaghetti Monster before it's too late.

[dysfunctional press]

10. i guess maybe the mayans were pretty crappy calendar makers after all...

:shrug:

[Birthmark]

12. Who can figure that base-20 shit anyway?

[Maru Kitteh]

9. And?

FORGIVE ME. I'M JUST TRYING TO UNDERSTAND WHAT I'M SUPPOSED TO BE SCARED/CONCERNED ABOUT IN BOLD PRINT.

[MineralMan]

13. These stories never look at the numbers in comparison

with anything. Pure shock value is what they're after.

With 81 of these quakes being aftershocks of a huge quake, it's not surprising.

Besides those, it's a pretty normal earthquake week. There are earthquakes above 4.5 happening somewhere on this shaky planet all the time. 4.5 isn't even a moderate quake, really.

Sensationalism may sell papers, but it's not useful information.

[MineralMan]

15. Here are statistics from the USGS regarding worldwide

earthquake frequency.

Magnitude Average Annually
8 and higher 1 ¹
7 - 7.9 17 ²
6 - 6.9 134 ²
5 - 5.9 1319 ²
4 - 4.9 13,000
(estimated)
3 - 3.9 130,000
(estimated)
2 - 2.9 1,300,000
(estimated)

Go to their statistics site for more details:

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

The facts are readily available. 13,000 divided by 52 means that 250 earthquakes over 4.0 per week is quite normal. Truth trumps nonsense every time.

[tekisui]

22. Thanks for the info.

The article was weak, at best. Thanks for the context.

[and-justice-for-all]

16. It is called Platetectonics....nt

[Retrograde]

17. 4.5? Call me when there's a big one

In 1990 there were three aftershocks (of the October 17, 1989 quake) of that magnitude within an hour, as well as some smaller ones. The Bay Area has dozens of small quakes every week. 5's getting to the point where it's likely to cause some damage, 6 is significant and anything above that can be serious - depending on where it is.

The earth's a dynamic planet, and the plates are always moving. After a big movement - like Chile - there's going to be a lot of smaller movements trying to get things back to some sort of equilibrium. It would be more surprising if a significant period of time goes by without some significant earth movement, especially along plate boundaries.

[Jennicut]

18. I swear some people want cataclysmic pole shift to be true.

Edgar Cayce said so, so it must happen soon. The crust and mantle are going to shift and Alaska will end up near the equator!

Seriously, so far most scientists don't think that will happen.

[MineralMan]

19. Too much science. Not enough woo.

That's what's wrong with America today. We need more woo...

[upi402]

20. I thought the Richter's scale was a defunct term. Magnitude is in use now, isn't it?

But does this mean there is tension easing, or trouble percolating? I go with the stats above stating it's normal.

[malaise]

21. Wow!

The planet is shaking.