Lots of Small Earthquakes Can Prevent a Large Earthquake

This is a myth. Seismologists have observed that for each magnitude 6.0 earthquake that occurs there are approximately 10 magnitude 5, 100 magnitude 4, and 1000 magnitude 3 earthquakes. While this sounds like a lot of small earthquakes, it doesn't even come close to the numbers that would be required to alleviate the pressure of one magnitude 6.0 earthquake. It would take 32 magnitude 5, or 3200 magnitude 4, or 32000 magnitude 3 earthquakes to equal the energy of a single magnitude 6.0 quake. As you can see there are never enough to prevent the larger earthquakes, so the best course of action is to prepare for the inevitable.

Posted by William Tonkin on March 28, 2012 at 11:09 PM under

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