No, There Are NOT More Earthquakes Than Normal → Washingtons Blog
No, There Are NOT More Earthquakes Than Normal - Washingtons Blog

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

No, There Are NOT More Earthquakes Than Normal


It seems like there are more big earthquakes than ever before.

Some people are calling foul play. For example, some point to the fact that former secretary of defense William Cohen told a conference on terrorism on April 28, 1997 that people can:

Alter the climate, set off earthquakes, volcanoes remotely through the use of electromagnetic waves.

Secretary Cohen might be right. Does that mean that hostile governments or terrorists are using electromagnetic weapons to cause earthquakes?

Others claim that climate change or an approaching celestial event having to do with the year 2012 are causing the earthquakes. Are they right?

Well, the United States Geological Survey explains that - contrary to appearances - we really don't have more earthquakes than normal:

Although it may seem that we are having more earthquakes, earthquakes of magnitude 7.0 or greater have remained fairly constant throughout this century and, according to our records, have actually seemed to decrease in recent years.

There are several reasons for the perception that the number of earthquakes, in general, and particularly destructive earthquakes is increasing.

1) A partial explanation may lie in the fact that in the last twenty years, we have definitely had an increase in the number of earthquakes we have been able to locate each year. This is because of the tremendous increase in the number of seismograph stations in the world and the many improvements in global communications.

***

2) The population at risk is increasing. While the number of large earthquakes is fairly constant, population density in earthquake-prone areas is constantly increasing. In some countries, the new construction that comes with population growth has better earthquake resistance; but in many it does not. So we are now seeing increasing casualties from the same sized earthquakes.

3) Better global communication. Just a few decades ago, if several hundred people were killed by an earthquake in Indonesia or eastern China, for example, the media in the rest of the world would not know about it until several days, to weeks, later, long after such an event would be deemed “newsworthy”. So by the time this information was available, it would probably be relegated to the back pages of the newspaper, if at all. And the public Internet didn't even exist. We are now getting this information almost immediately.

4) Earthquake clustering and human psychology. While the average number of large earthquakes per year is fairly constant, earthquakes occur in clusters. This is predicted by various statistical models, and does not imply that earthquakes that are distant in location, but close in time, are causally related. But when such clusters occur, especially when they are widely reported in the media, they are noticed. However, during the equally anomalous periods during which no destructive earthquakes occur, no one deems this as remarkable.

The USGS provides the following charts on large earthquakes:

Earthquakes Located by the NEIC 1990 to present

Worldwide earthquakes 2010 - 2010

Worldwide earthquakes 2000 - 2009

Worldwide earthquakes 1990 - 1999

Worldwide earthquakes 1980 - 1989


And see this.

Note that many people have seen strange lights in the sky prior to or during recent earthquakes.

However, strange lighting phenomenon has been observed in connection with earthquakes throughout history.

For example,
"immense columns of flame" were reported by Greek writings prior to the giant earthquake in 373 BC in which destroyed the cities of Helike and Bura.

And the New England Earthquake of 1727 was preceded by strange lighting phenomena:

People that were awake when the earthquake came said that a flash of light preceded it. It was seen as it passed the windows, and a blaze seemed to run along the ground, dogs that saw it giving a sudden bark as if frightened. Before they had time to consider the source or cause of the light a sound like a gentle murmur floated to them on the still evening air, followed by a slight ruffling wind. Then came a rumbling as of distant thunder, which approached nearer and nearer and grew louder and louder till it sounded as if innumerable heavy carriages were being rapidly driven over pavements, or like the roaring of a great furnace, but incomparably fiercer and more terrible, having a hollow sound as if it came from under the earth. Then the shock came suddenly and severely and the houses were felt to totter and reel with the trembling and heaving of the ground.
See this and this.

There are numerous theories about the cause of "earthquake lights", including:

  • Sparks or gas ionisation due to a piezoelectric effect in quartz-bearing rock
  • Frictional heating
  • Exoelectron emissions
  • Sonoluminescence
  • Triboluminescence
  • Generation and ignition of flammable gases either from pockets of natural gas or from rocks under enormous stress.
  • Gas ionisation or electrical effects due to electrokinetics
  • Separation of positive hole charge carriers that turn rocks momentarily into p-type semiconductors

21 comments:

  1. In order to make this argument, you must ignore reams of video and eyewitness testimony which observes anomalous "colors" in the sky much like the Aurora Borealis near the epicenters of many recent earthquakes before and during quakes around the globe(try searching for "sky changing colors during earthquakes"). Weather weapons are the perfect choice for covert, massive destruction of any location on the planet. Governments have admitted to possessing these weapons. Try reading the book "Angels don't play this HAARP".

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  2. Great post keeps us wondering about what will happen in 2012.

    I assumed that more volcanic activity and earthquakes are going to hppen on 2012.

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  3. I cannot fathom the magical thinking required to believe cosmology, electromagnetic weaponry, or some other undiscovered force is at work here.

    It pains me that even when presented with raw data, humans are intent on deceiving themselves with convenient but unsound explanations like weather machines or the apocalypse.

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  4. Note that the chart only goes back to 1990. That's a drop in the bucket. How about some real reporting before making such conclusions?

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  5. okay, anyonymous above this is 30 years of data, how much would you want?, he has enough data to come to the conclusion he has, and any increase in slight increase in the past 30 years can be completely attributed to the fact that more there are more siesmographs recording data

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  6. http://thatsjustplumdumb.com/index.php/2010/03/high-frequency-active-auroral-research-project-haarp-the-us-new-weapon-of-mass-destruction/

    "You don’t know me from the next stranger, so I’ll give you a little background, just the relevant stuff: I did research for 15 years as a biophysicist, so my background was in biological sciences, physics and engineering. As a young student, I loved reading about the man who blew Einstein out of the water: Nikola Tesla. This brilliant man was gobbled up by moneyed men, chewed to pieces, then spat out in ruins, his otherworldly research left in the hands of unscrupulous human beings.

    So how do you know if that earthquake were generated by HAARP or a HAARP-like instrument? Interestingly, it takes hours to heat up the ionosphere, which means that in the day preceding a HAARP attack, the atmosphere directly above the target area undergoes several changes that can be seen with the naked eye, as mentioned above: significant color changes in the sky, from red to blue to all variations in between; red-hot and white-hot balls of plasma in the sky, and they resemble a ball of fire. No kidding: a ball of fire in the sky. Also, instrumentation that can measure changes in the earth’s magnetic field and the electric field will see significant and wildly fluctuating changes in both the magnetic field and electric field in the vicinity of the target.

    So far, Haitians reported wildly changing colors in the sky the day before the devastating earthquake. Same, too, for the earthquakes in China and Japan recently."

    Extreme, unusual weather patterns can also be a sign of weather manipulation(and there has been unprecedented weather around the globe including in my locale): http://thatsjustplumdumb.com/index.php/2010/03/extreme-weather-in-your-area-its-a-backlash-from-recent-haarp-activities/

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  7. Hello, bad science = bad graphs with no real #'s of earthquakes on the axis???? Hello people lets get some real data for this argument instead of red dot quakes hidden behind red dot quakes!

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  8. You forgot to mention the crazies who believe they think the # of earthquakes are increasing because it's the end of days and Jesus is waiting to judge us at the door.

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  9. To the April 6 Anon:

    a) First of all, earthquakes aren't weather. In theory, weather weapons could take the form of generation of lightning storms, tornadoes and hurricanes. Giant fans pushing existing air currents? Forcing electrons into clouds using giant flying Tesla coils? Crazy expensive. Even if the funds exist, why target poor countries?

    b) The only ways I imagine humans could generate an earthquake is either by sapping high-tension tectonic plate contact areas or by setting off a nuke underground. Crazy expensive. Same point as above.

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  10. I used to have faith in the research integrity of this site.

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  11. I don't know the facts but I do know that I can see the auroral, ionospheric , magnetic and solar data for myself as an earthquake happens at http://www.electricquakes.org

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  12. From the data in that article:

    Earthquakes Magnitude 8.0 - 9.9

    1980 - 1989: 4

    1990 - 1999: 6

    2000 - 2009: 13

    Looks like a trend to me.

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  13. Your own graphics show what appears to be a gradual increase in earthquakes. For example the number of 8 to 8.9 earthquakes in each chart gets higher and higher on each chart.

    1980-1989 : 4
    1990-1999 : 6
    2000-2009 : 13

    And so far we are only 4 months into 2010 and we are already at 223,140 deaths from earthquakes. The only number in your charts that compares is the 228,802 total deaths in 2004 and 2010 isn't even half way finished yet!

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  14. If earthquake inducing weapons exist - and as I understand it, they do - there is absolutely zero doubt in my mind that the criminals who control the USA would obtain and use them in less than a heartbeat.

    And you're seriously trying to convince people that earthquakes haven't become more frequent over the last 10 years? Get a conscience. Seriously. Please.

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  15. To the writer of this article I say; nice try.

    Your evidence gathering is very good and most sane people would either continue the research where you left off or take this as the most likely explanation.

    However the article mainly seems geared to wedge people off conspiracy theories, which has 0% chance of working. They don't give a damn about actual reasons or causes, they just want to express anti-American sentiment and will use any tragedy to blame on the Government, no matter how insane their rational is. These are the same people who think the Government caused 9/11, Jews are in control of the world in a secret Kabal, and the American Military is run by an alien working for lord Xenu who probes rednecks in the ass after abducting them into a ship.

    Still, nice try.

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  16. Well, looks like the charts are probably going to see an update after a 7.1 Magnitude earthquake struck Western China earlier today: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/04/photogalleries/100414-china-earthquake-today-pictures#western-china-earthquake-yushu-buildings-wreckage-rescuers_18842_600x450.jpg

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  17. I cant believe they are still harping on about there not being increase is seismic activity even when they show a increase on the USGS.gov site

    Take for example southern California since 1971 they have had an average of 15-20 quakes per year which are a 3 or higher mag except in 2009 when this increased to 97 quakes for the whole year.

    We are now in April of 2010 so far there have been a staggering 195 quakes in Southern California, maybe maths is not their strong point but that is a 98% increase in activity for that area alone and we have 8 months left to go of the year.

    http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/shakemap/list.php?y=2010&n=sc

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  18. Get a life! people look at the Goverment sites for acurate information, not some personel opinion based on inacurate and unreliable opinions, Earthquacks are indeed increasing, 2010 sets a new record, and not surprising the way man has misused and abused the earth with bombs and pollution, draining the seas of all its life, and draining the earth of it's fuel, you'll have to be a Drongo not to realise that, or someone paid by fuel company's to play down the effects of these Earthquacks.

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  19. And I can't help but notice the bumps in US election years.

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  20. It's not that there are more earthquakes this year, it's that most quakes usually don't get much media attention. If an earthquake happened in the middle of the Sahara, well, they wouldn't fly in scads of reporters to take pictures of the dunes not there any more...


    hurricane

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