Are earthquakes becoming more common? Here’s what the numbers say
Scientists have been able to catalogue the largest earthquakes for a very long time.
Large earthquakes have occurred near populated areas around the world in the past month, causing significant damage. These include earthquakes in the Philippines, Indonesia, Venezuela, Colombia, Japan, Hawaii, and Granada, Spain. However, the number of earthquakes of magnitude 6.5 or greater this year is slightly below average compared to the past 40 years.
Earthquakes are primarily located along tectonic plate boundaries, such as the San Andreas Fault in California, the Alpine Fault in New Zealand, and the Ring of Fire. Scientists continuously monitor and record earthquakes worldwide, but there are not more events. The perception of an increase in large earthquakes may be due to recent impacts on people and communities and the extensive media coverage.
The actual number of destructive earthquakes remains stable. To reduce the risk from earthquakes, people living in earthquake-prone areas should be prepared through understanding seismic hazards, ensuring seismically resilient design and construction, and creating an "earthquake-ready" public.
Written by urgent.news from The Conversation AU's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
