Earthquakes on the Rise?

By Thomas Ajava

We like to suggest that we know massive amounts of things about the planet we live on, but every once shortly Mother Nature reminds us who is in charge. The recent spate of earthquakes certainly is such an instance and raises ab muscles real question of whether we are entering a time of increased seismic activity and, if so, what it means.

You and i also have never met, but we may have shared a very surreal experience a few weeks back. I sat there on any weekend transfixed after the massive earthquake in Chile occurred. What were we both probably watching? Whether there was going to be considered a monstrous tsunami in Hawaii. It was so surreal that it was almost funny. I'll even admit I was disappointed at initial when nothing much happen until I realized that a lot of people would have lost a lot of things.

While a slave to, it also occurred to me that there have been a ton of earthquakes lately. Haiti was obviously a massive tremor the fact that devastated the country. Most people think Chile was the next big one, but it was not. There was a magnitude five.0 earthquake off the shore of Japan. Then we Chile rolls through with numbers that haven't been seen in a long time at a staggering 8.8 on the Richter Scale. This, of course, has been followed by the earthquake in Turkey measuring "only" 5.5 that has killed at least 50 people at last count and the count has only started.

The somewhat obvious question facing us is whether earthquakes are on the rise? Well, earthquakes are the result of shifts in fault lines, particularly in subduction zones where one plate slides below another. Most scientist have argued that there has been a slight boost in the last 15 years, but the current spate of tremors is just a coincidence. Is this true? Well, it would are generally. The major earthquakes that have occurred are not on the same fault lines. Only Chile and Japan are in the call of fire. Haiti is its own area. Turkey is dramatic, but it has always been subject to significant tremors much for example California has.

Is the world coming to an end or undergoing some major shift? Not likely. Then again, 2012 is only just around the corner!