Number of
Larger Earthquakes Is Rising
Earthquakes pose a significant risk to 75
million Americans in 39 states.—USGS Jan. 2004
December
12, 2011, updated Dec. 14
© Holly Deyo
standeyo.com
/ DareToPrepare.com
This recent Fox News/Live Science
story says bigger quakes are NOT on
the rise and that larger quakes don't
trigger events on the opposite side of the
planet. It states "On a local level,
earthquakes do cluster and trigger one
another, with a main shock often
surrounded by fore- or aftershocks. But
whether large earthquakes that occur
thousands of miles across the globe from
each other are related is a separate
question."
$In fact, the first time I ever heard this
phenomenon addressed was from Stan in 1995
and now many others report observing this
'seismic reaction'.
The next time an 7.8 or larger quake
strikes, check this antipodal map and
see if an answering quake doesn't occur
within 24 hours. It is not an 'always'
event and it is usually somewhat smaller,
but there's an interesting correlation
that bears study.
Now back to the discussion of whether or
not the number of large quakes is growing.
The Fox article goes on to say that in a
study, USGS scientist Andrew Michael "used
three statistical methods to find out if
large earthquakes cluster together or if
what looks like clusters is just random
variability. A first glance at global
earthquakes since 1900 does look very
clustered, he said. But as soon as you
remove aftershocks from the equation, that
pattern disappears."
First, numerous aftershocks can be nearly
as strong as the earthquake itself,
generally just 1 magnitude lower.
Especially with larger events, aftershocks
can be just as damaging. When looking at a
Richter 7, of which there was 42 for
2010-2011, these can create havoc.
Buildings and infrastructure, which took a
beating from the main event, are now even
more vulnerable to additional destructive
shaking, slumping and sliding.
Second, when it's your life, your home,
your business or livelihood, you won't
care if the earthquake was classified an
earthquake or an aftershock. Nor does USGS
distinguish the two when recording yearly
temblors. A quake is a quake.
By removing the aftershocks, USGS attempts
to reign in its burgeoning statistics.
This doesn't wash except to mute what must
be their own growing concerns.
According to USGS' figures, earthquakes are
increasing and most alarmingly, in the
higher magnitudes. See
for yourself.
How to Read the Chart
Listed in the white columns on the left
are the magnitudes and the average number
of earthquakes that occur annually for
each. For each year are 2 corresponding
colored columns. The first lists the
actual number of shakers that struck for
each Richter and in the next column what
percent it is compared to the norm.
Now skip to the last 4 columns – 2 gray, 2
green.
The gray columns add together the number
of quakes for each Richter that occurred
for 2008 and 2009. The green columns do
the same thing for 2010 and 2011 combined.
Red numbers show where magnitudes exceeded
the norms. Not only did 2010/2011 exceed
ALL of the norms for larger events, but
the largest quakes, Richters 6, 7 and 8 -
9.9 gained significantly over
2008/2009. There are still two weeks to
go...
This is yet another sign of the End of
this Age.
|
Earthquakes by Richter
2008 - Dec. 13, 2011
| Mag. |
Average
Yearly
Number
of
Quakes
|
2008
Actual
Number
of
Quakes
|
2008
% to
Norm
|
2009
Actual
Number
of
Quakes
|
2009
% to
Norm
|
2010
Actual
Number
of
Quakes
|
2010
% to
Norm
|
Thru
Dec 11
2011
Actual
Number
of
Quakes
|
Thru
Dec 11
2011
% to
Norm
|
Average
No of
Quakes
for 2
Years" |
2008 & 2009
Actual
Number
of
Quakes
|
2008 &
2009
% to
Norm
|
2010 & 2011
Actual
Number
of
Quakes
|
2010 &
2011
% to
Norm
|
8.0-9.9
Great
|
1 |
0 |
0% |
1 |
100% |
1 |
100%
|
1 |
100%
|
2 |
1 |
50% |
2 |
200% |
7.0-7.9
Major
|
15 |
12 |
80% |
16 |
107% |
23 |
153%
|
19 |
127%
|
30 |
28 |
93% |
42 |
140% |
6.0-6.9
Strong
|
134 |
168 |
125% |
142 |
106% |
149 |
111%
|
182 |
136%
|
268 |
310 |
116% |
331 |
123% |
5.0-5.9
Moderate
|
1319 |
1,768 |
134% |
1,700 |
129% |
2,009 |
152%
|
2,200 |
167%
|
2,638 |
3,778 |
143% |
4,209 |
160% |
4.0-4.9
Light
|
13,000 |
12,291 |
95% |
6,980 |
54% |
10,358 |
166%
|
12,334 |
94%
|
26,000 |
23,049 |
13,000 |
22,692 |
87% |
| Deaths |
10,000 |
88,011 |
880% |
1,790 |
18% |
320,129 |
3200%
|
21,401 |
214%
|
20,000 |
89,801 |
898% |
341,530 |
1707% |
|