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Master's avatar

Haiti, Japan and now Chile. Why do you think earthquakes are happening so often and randomly lately?

Asked by Master (1358points) February 27th, 2010

January 12, 2010 : Haiti : 7.0Mw
February 27, 2010 : Japan : 6.9Mw
February 27, 2010 : Chile : 8.8Mw

Observing members: 0 Composing members: 0

29 Answers

lilikoi's avatar

Plate-tectonics must be having a race.

Sarcasm's avatar

Lavos is rising.

DarkScribe's avatar

It is the old Gods getting pissed off at the way they are being portrayed on TV.

Blackberry's avatar

Earthquakes are natural, it just seems so shocking because they don’t occur on our timescale. You have to realize that our timescale is very minute compared to the scale of the universe. Magma moves and plates rub etc, it doesn’t mean anything symbolic, it’s just nature.

DarkScribe's avatar

@Blackberry Magma moves and plates rub etc, it doesn’t mean anything symbolic, it’s just nature.

Is that a euphemism for something?

YARNLADY's avatar

It’s clear proof of global warming, with the ice caps melting, the earth is getting squashed.

davidbetterman's avatar

It has absolutely nothing to do with global warming. The real problem is that so many large cities all around the world are built on or near major fault lines/zones.
Naturally, when hundreds of thousands of people are displaced or killed, it is news.

Another factor is the removal of oil from the earth’s crust. Apparently oil not only lubricates moving metal, but it also lubricates shifting tectonic plates.

Blackberry's avatar

@DarkScribe No, but I see how it could have been lol.

nope's avatar

This may sound stupid, but…global warming.

Oh, and 2012 is approaching!

nope's avatar

@YARNLADY Sorry, didn’t see your response there, so I duplicated it…somewhat. I’m curious what you mean by squashed…you mean the redistribution of water perhaps?

judochop's avatar

Earthquakes happen everyday and for there to be a small bunch of major earthquakes seems natural to me.One plate moves why would another not follow. The big earthquake that we need to be concerned with is the fault line that sits inland off the West Coast. Once that thing moves you will see, Seattle, Portland, San Fransisco, and L.A. hit hard. It is believed that this will also set a chain reaction to the dormant volcanoes in the NW.
And for those of you who want to blame the earthquakes on global warming are you aware that as of yesterday we now have a 64 miles iceberg floating down the Atlantic Coast that will cause a disruption in the tides and water flow which could end up resulting in a eco-disaster wiping species of fish out of the ocean and causing weather patterns to shift thus causing the world to become undone at one end and suck itself in to a giant black hole where giant green men will rule the earth and the human species will become that of Mel Gibson in Mad Max the THUNDERDOME!!!!! You better start saving your scrap metal and spare parts from the weedwacker. Shit’s gonna get real.

Berserker's avatar

@Sarcasm LMAO. That was win.

LuckyGuy's avatar

Earthquakes happen every day. Check out Seismic Monitor . It shows the earthquakes that occurred, today, yesterday, past two weeks and past 5 years.
Consider that map when you decide where to live and how much you want to pay for a house.

kevbo's avatar

Earthquake machine. I’m not kidding.

Jewel's avatar

@worriedguy Great answer and great link! Thanks for sharing.

marinelife's avatar

Earthquakes happen in the seismic zone all the time. Sometimes they are small and sometimes large.

As others have said, it is adjustments along fault lines.

ubersiren's avatar

It’s because of our tolerance of the homosecksheels.

LuckyGuy's avatar

@Jewel I’m glad you like it. You can click on any one of the earthquakes and get the data too. There are stations all over the world picking up the vibrations and calculating the location and magnitude. If anyone ever doubted that land masses are based upon tectonic plates this should straighten them out.

bhec10's avatar

This is crazy! Argentina has just been struck by a 6.3 earthquake 6 hours ago!

syzygy2600's avatar

sigh. Gotta love the information superhighway. Rates of significant earthquakes have remained stable for the past 80 years or so. In fact, there have actually been fewer major earthquakes in the past 10 or so years than before, although this is likely a statistical fluctuation and not a decrease in the number of quakes.

jlynnyo's avatar

I really dont think anyone has the exact RIGHT answer..yes there is scientific reasoning for everything under the sun. Some religious people say its the returning of Christ. I guess we have to just see what happens now don’t we.

citygrlincountry's avatar

@worriedguy—that is a nice link you included in your response.

AstroChuck's avatar

Because I’ve been falling down alot lately. Sorry.

I am working on a weight loss program.

DrMC's avatar

It’s not the end times, I haven’t really lost my temper yet.

Muahahahaha

mattbrowne's avatar

There is some speculation about clustered events related to plate tectonics. Nothing conclusive as far as I know.

AstroChuck's avatar

You could always ask Pat Robertson. He’ll have an answer for you.

YARNLADY's avatar

@AstroChuck opposite of fail

Factotum's avatar

@davidbetterman I think the think you linked to is a hoax for the following reasons:

1) “Global Scientists, along with prominent politicians, met in secret in Luxembourg….” There is no reason for them to meet in secret, none whatsoever unless this is just a dodge for the author to not name names that could be checked up on.

2) The film ‘Violent Earth’ was shot in 2006 and concerns a specific tsunami.

3) ‘Politicians have been quick to pledge support for the effort, vowing to protect their citizens by prohibiting any more drilling for oil or well drilling.’ There are even quotes from these politicians but they are not attributed to any politicians. Politicians are the greatest quote whores in the known galaxy.

4) a ‘One prominent Oil Company Geologist’ gets a quote but no an identity. Whyever not? He’s fair game.

5) “Friends against Tectonic Plate International Grating” (F.A.T.P.I.G.) has one hit on Google: the article you linked to. Also It is extremely unlikely any advocacy group would call itself FATPIG.

6) “The United Nations is proposing a global tax on water through worldwide monitoring of wells, in order to raise money to deal with the problem.” I could find no mention of a UN global water tax on the web, despite such a proposal being a lightning rod for conservative outrage.

7) The graphics provided depict both plate tectonics and aquifers (one pic each) but in no way tie them together.

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