Of course we all remember the biggest event of the year, the 9.0 off the coast of Japan on March 11, 2011, that triggered the worst tsunami in history (that I am aware of) and caused a nuclear plant to crumble to the ground and leak radiation. I remember watching the news and seeing the first footage coming in of the tsunami, and wanting to cry. That earthquake was largest during the 2011 calendar year, and the largest earthquake on record since the terrifying 9.1 west of Sumatra on December 26, 2004, which also caused a devastating tsunami. I'm sure we all remember that one as well!
In doing some research, the Japanese region has seen it's share of earthquakes over the last 11 years. The second largest on record that I found happened in the Hokkaido region on September 25, 2003 and was registered as n 8.3. In 2011, there were three major quakes of the east coast of the Honshu region; one before the devastating tremblor, a 7.3 on March 9, followed by the quake of the year, then immediately followed by a 7.9 the same day in the same region. I was unaware of those other two.
If you have a moment, and I'm sure you do, you need to watch these videos. StoryMonoroch created these two videos to show the time lapse of earth quakes worldwide and in the Japan region during 2011. They use red circles and sound effects to represent the earthquakes. The first video is a worldwide view, and focuses mainly on the area known as the Ring of Fire, which is a seismically and volcanically active region. this video focuses on all earthquakes greater than a 4.5.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cwWn_W6ZbT4
This next video is the time lapse of the Japanese region. This video will shock you to see how many earthquakes greater than a 3.0 occurred around Japan, and even more off the Honshu region, where the largest quake occurred.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=eKp5cA2sM28
So far in 2012, there has been a few significant quakes. In my eyes, anything larger than a 5.0 is significant. The USGS considers anything over a 6.0 significant, as shown by this list: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqinthenews/2012/
In the past 7 days there has been the following 5.0 or larger quakes (all this data was taken from the USGS site at http://earthquake.usgs.gov):
- Feb 1: 5.3- Easter Island
- Feb 2
- 5.0- West of Macquarie Island
- 5.0- Off the coast of Southern Peru
- 5.4- New Britain Region, Papua New Guinea
- 5.0- New Ireland Region, Papua New Guinea
- 5.5- New Britain Region, Papua New Guinea
- 7.1- Vanuatu
- 5.3- Vanuatu
- 5.0- Vanuatu
- 5.5- Vanuatu
- 5.2- Vanuatu
- 5.1- Vanuatu
- 5.1- Vanuatu
- Feb 3
- 6.0- Vanuatu
- 5.4- Vanuatu
- 5.7- Vanuatu
- 5.1- New Britain Region, Papua New Guinea
- Feb 4
- 5.1- Taiwan
- 5.4- Central Mongolia
- 5.8- Tonga
- 5.6- Samar, Philippines
- 5.2- Vanuatu
- 5.1- Central Mid Atlantic Ridge
- 5.4- Samar, Philippines
- 5.7- Vancouver Island, Canada Region
- 5.3- Owen Fracture Zone Region
- Feb 5
- 5.2- Kepulauan Kai, Indonesia
- 6.1- Vanuatu
- 5.0- Southern Iran
- 5.2- Kyrgyzstan
- 6.0- Vanuatu
- 5.2- Minanao, Philippines
- 5.1- Fiji
- Feb 6
- 6.7- Negros-Cebu Region, Philippines
- 5.6- Negros-Cebu Region, Philippines
- 6.0- Negros-Cebu Region, Philippines
- 5.8- Negros-Cebu Region, Philippines
- 5.2- Negros-Cebu Region, Philippines
- Feb 7
- 5.0- Hokkaido, Japan
- 5.3- Negros-Cebu Region, Philippines
- 5.0- Negros-Cebu Region, Philippines
- Feb 8
- 5.2- Negros-Cebu Region, Philippines
- 5.3- Kermadac Islands, New Zealand
- 5.1- Minahasa, Sulawesi, Indonesia
- 5.6- Near the coast of Ecuador
- 5.6- Near the west coast of the Honshu Region, Japan
- 5.0- Offshore Chiapas, Mexico
And the most significant quakes for the first month of the year were:
- Jan 1- 6.8 Izu Islands Region, Japan
- Jan 9- 6.6 Santa Cruz Islands
- Jan 10- 7.2 Off the west coast of Northern Sumatra
- Jan 15- 6.6 South Shetland Islands
- Jan 30- 6.3 Near the coast of Central Peru.
So you can see by the list, the majority of the quakes happen in the Pacific region, where the Ring of Fire is located, but a few scattered significant quakes happen in other parts of the world.
Will the BIG ONE hit your area any time soon?? Scientists are working on trying to predict when the next one will occur... but the BIG ONE has already hit Japan. California and the Pacific Northwest are supposedly next in line for the big one in the next 30 years. I can only pray that I have found my secure place in life where I won't be 100% affected by whatever quake is to come. I currently am living in the Pacific Northwest, and was born and raised in California. I experienced the now famous Loma Prieta quake on October 18, 1989 and the Northridge quake on January 17, 1994. I remember reading about the 1906 quake in San Fransisco that had a magnitude of 7.8, the worst in California history, killing around 3000 people. I also remember hearing about a large 6.8 in the Pacific Northwest back in 2001, on February 28 centered near Nisqually, Washington, but the damage was centered in the Seattle/Tacoma/Olympia region. This same region had a terrible 7.1 quake April 13, 1949.
Yes, both areas are due for a large quake.
I pray that I am not in this area when the BIG ONE does hit.
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