37...the number of earthquakes 5.+ around the Pacific Ring THIS WEEK.

[Snoutport]

OK...I live on the West Coast. I grew up in Alaska and got to ride out quite a few good sized shakers and I lived in LA for a few years and had the joy of being in the elevator on the 8th floor of the UCLA Med Tower during a 4.7 aftershock of the Northridge quake. It was terrifying. I think back to LA and driving through the Valley and just seeing mile after mile of buildings collapsed down on their parking garages. The damage was huge and widespread. Bricks were om sidewalks everywhere and many, many buildings were condemned or badly damaged.

So these recent quakes are starting to be a little scary.

A very good friend of mine lives in Christchurch, NZ and he has shared pictures and his accounts of the quakes there. A large portion of the population has abandoned the city. Japan is being shaken all over again today.

So, I've always kind of followed the USGS Earthquake website. I don't recall every seeing so much activity in such a short period of time before. Not with quakes of this size. Even when it is active they seem a little more concentrated but when I look at the maps of the ring of fire I see something that disturbs me (and my overactive imagination). The entire ring of fire has been having 5. + earthquakes like crazy the past weeks and months. EVERYWHERE but on the west coast of Canada and the United States. :0(

If you start at Vera Cruz and go clockwise this is what you see (And this is just this week)...
Magnitude 6.5 - VERACRUZ, MEXICO
Magnitude 4.6 - GUATEMALA
Magnitude 5.0 - NORTH OF HONDURAS
Magnitude 5.0 - JUJUY, ARGENTINA
Magnitude 4.8 - SAN JUAN, ARGENTINA
Magnitude 5.2 - OFFSHORE BIO-BIO, CHILE
Magnitude 5.1 - OFF EAST COAST OF THE SOUTH ISLAND, N.Z.
Magnitude 5.2 - KERMADEC ISLANDS REGION
Magnitude 5.0 - KERMADEC ISLANDS, NEW ZEALAND
Magnitude 5.0 - KERMADEC ISLANDS REGION
Magnitude 5.0 - SOUTH OF THE FIJI ISLANDS
Magnitude 4.9 - TONGA REGION
Magnitude 4.9 - TONGA
Magnitude 5.2 - FIJI REGION
Magnitude 4.8 - VANUATU
Magnitude 5.0 - SOLOMON ISLANDS
Magnitude 4.8 - BOUGAINVILLE REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Magnitude 5.9 4.9 5.2 5.0 4.3 6.0 4.9 5.0 5.2 5.8 INDONESIAN ISLAND AREA
Magnitude 6.0 4.9 - KEPULAUAN TALAUD, INDONESIA
Magnitude 5.0 - MINDANAO, PHILIPPINES
Magnitude 5.2 - MINDORO, PHILIPPINES
Magnitude 6.1 4.5 4.5 5.0 4.8 4.9 7.1 4.9 5.3 4.7 4.7 4.5 5.6 4.9 4.6 4.7 4.6 4.6 4.7 4.7 4.8 4.9 5.4 5.4 5.4 5.4 5.2 (AND DOZENS MORE 4. AND SMALLER IN JAPAN)
Magnitude 4.1 4.5 4.4 AND SEVERAL 3.+ IN ALASKA

Maybe the west coast of North America is just lucky?

[hedgehog]

1. The saddest news report I heard this week was a story of finding bodies of people killed

by the quake in New Zealand.

These quakes happen in seconds, are last month's news already but still hurting the people directly involved.

[gratuitous]

2. Very comforting

As I sit in my cubicle on the 34th floor.

[SidDithers]

3. How many the week before?...

and the week before that?

How many 5+ quakes does the Ring of Fire average on a weekly basis?

Sid

[Viva_La_Revolution]

8. average 25 per week, worldwide

1319 per year average since 1990
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqarchives/year/eqstats.php

haven't found stats yet for just the pacific ring...

[Snoutport]

12. bigger than 5.?

[Snoutport]

13. I found some averages: 15 7+ yearly avg. and 1 8.+

so...we have half the 7.0 or bigger quakes already and one 8.+ (9.0).

It is the "everyone has had one" but us part that makes me nervous.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Xithras]

5. I just updated my earthquake kit last weekend.

Quakes are a reality here in California. Even those who live outside of the shake zones should have sufficient supplies on hand to survive at least a few days without power or grocery shopping.

[Snoutport]

7. I stocked up too. But I doubt that many people in Portland are on top of it.

Or Seattle.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

9. We're close to as ready as we can be (in PDX)

Topped of the water and food supplies, just today putting everything in one place in the garage for easy access.

just in case

[Snoutport]

11. Yeah, but do all these numbers have you worried?

We have our plan in place. As long as there is still a standing bridge to get home from downtown. Plan two is the marina and hopefully someone with a boat will be ferrying people back and forth.

I guess my mind set though is moving from "if we have a quake" to "when the quake happens".

[Viva_La_Revolution]

21. Worried... no. Freaked out? yes.

But I'm trying to keep a handle on it, I have a family to take care of. All we can do is be as ready as possible.

:hug:

[slackmaster]

6. Tom Jones says "It's not unusual"

[Snoutport]

10. A-tom-ic Jones also said, "rescue me" "burning down the house" and "help yourself".

Tom Jones' shaking hips is not the shaking I'm worried about.

[Duer 157099]

14. I share your concern. It isn't the number of quakes, but the lack of them

on the west coast that is the concern.

That Cascadia subduction zone is building up stress, and that is very, very bad.

[PADemD]

15. Recommended reading

"The famous Aztec Sunstone encodes the meaning of the New
Fire ceremony and the fifty-two-year Calendar Round. It
depicts five World Ages, each one destroyed by various natural
cataclysms including floods, wind, and fire."

"The Fifth World Age, the one we are currently in, is
portrayed in the center of the Sunstone by the seventeenth
day-sign Ollin, which means "movement" or "earthquake." The
standard reading of this symbol is that the current World Age
will be destroyed by earthquakes."

Maya Cosmogenesis 2012
John Major Jenkins

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_22?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=maya+cosmogenesis+2012&sprefix=maya+cosmogenesis+2012

I read the 1998 version of this book over 10 years ago. I think I'll read it again.

[Duer 157099]

16. Look at this eerie silence

And note where the Cascadia subduction zone is

[Snoutport]

18. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK! Damnit...that is even more scary!

I think I need to go buy another case of water.

[Duer 157099]

19. Yep. It's not just the presence of quakes in an area

it's the corresponding *lack* of quakes in an adjacent area. imho.

Quakes relieve stress. Lack of quakes means a buildup of stress.

[RebelOne]

20. Really scary because my computer

went berserk when I clicked on the link. I had to restart.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

22. 4.3 off Oregon coast this evening. I was glad to see it.

[Snoutport]

23. THAT is good news! wow...crazy to think I'm GLAD to see an earthquake

a little stress relief is what we, and the crust need :0) thanks for sharing

[Lucian]

17. Yeah, those are all on plate boundaries.

Hardly surprising.