How active is our planet earth?

2011 Christchurch New Zealand and Honshu Japan the 4th largest recorded in over a century are reminders of how active planet earth is. Acording to United States Geological Survey (USGS) estimates that several million earthquakes occur in the world each year. Many go undetected because they hit remote areas or have very small magnitudes.

The National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) now locates about 50 earthquakes each day, or about 20,000 a year. Annual frequency of occurrence of earthquake magnitude 4 and greater:

• 8 and higher 1
• 7 - 7.9 15 ¹
• 6 - 6.9 134 ²
• 5 - 5.9 1319 ²

Good resource to visualize the earth seismic events over the last week and century is the world earthquake Animations - Past 7 Days and the largest earthquakes in the world since 1900 List reminder of how active the beautiful blue plant is.

This one page Red Cross checklist explains how to prepare for an earthquake, what to do when shaking begins, and what to do after shaking stops. CHECKLIST  

Comments

[Erica]

Good time to draw attention to how dynamic our planet’s core really is. The frequency of quakes is often overlooked, but their magnitude isn’t, as evident by the destruction Japan has suffered in the last week and a half. The Red Cross checklist is also a good reminder and briefing for those who haven’t lived on a fault line before. Sitting squarely on top of California’s “Hayward,” fault line and being just a stone’s throw from California’s “San Andreas,” fault that runs right though the densely populated city of San Francisco, it will no doubt be quite useful information. I know a certain Brit who will get to enjoy this handout tonight. Nice write up.