[piercehawkeye45]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

Things are shifting, no?

Apparently, we have not had more quakes than usual.

Yesterday, a 6.9-magnitude quake struck Qinghai, China, resulting in an estimated 400 dead and 10,000 injured. One week before that, a 7.7 tremor hit Northern Sumatra, Indonesia. Two days before that, a 7.2 shook Baja, Mexico. At the end of February, Chile shuddered under an 8.8 earthquake, little over a month after a 7.0 crumbled Haiti and killed nearly 230,000. With such a list, 2010 appears to be the year of the apocalypse or, at the very least, unnaturally active for these natural disasters.

Not according to the United States Geological Society and other experts. They say we’re not getting more quakes than usual, we’re just paying more attention. Even earthquakes of magnitude 7.0 or greater have remained fairly constant throughout history: based on records since about 1900, approximately 17 major earthquakes, ranging from 7.0 to 7.9, and one “great” earthquake—at 8.0 magnitude or above—are expected in any given year. Not that such statistics should be taken lightly; even a slight shift of 1.0 magnitude higher on the seismic scale creates 10 times more ground motion and releases about 32 times more energy—the best indicator of the destructive power of an earthquake. So far for 2010, the 8.8 giant in Chile places into the “great” category, and five major tremors of a 7.0 magnitude or more have been recorded.

http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/thehu...tions-are.aspx