Earthquakes with a destructive force shook the world lately. The violence of the earthquakes in Japan, Haiti or Chile left hundreds of dead people behind, deserted cities in which the life was not able to get back to its normal course. Researchers admit that the phenomenon grows, but they were not able to find any explanation for that. So are the earthquakes more violent than in the past?
The frequency of large earthquakes, over 5.5 degrees on the Richter scale, has grown from one year to the other. At the beginning of the 2000’s, the annual average was 1400-1500 earthquakes yearly, from 2007, there were more than 2000 earthquakes every year, and in 2011, there were 2500. The statistic of devastating earthquakes is even more worrying. During the 70’s and the 80’s, there was only one major earthquake every two years (over 8 degrees Richter), while now, those happen even twice a year.
Moreover, for the first time in history, the earthquakes moved the axe of the Earth. The top of seismic activity was 2007, when there were four earthquakes over 8 degrees and 14 over 7 degrees. Each time, those provoked smaller earthquakes, but big enough to spread panic.
Earthquakes playing domino
The phenomenon of chain earthquakes is still a mystery. The last years were a true challenge for seismologists. In only a few weeks, 39 earthquakes hit the planet in 2013. From China to the Indian Ocean, from California to Italy, Mexico or Greece, the earthquakes were felt.
The series was launched with two major events in Indonesia, both with a force of over 8 degrees. During the following days, more 5 degrees earthquakes were recorded. Their frequency is worrying, especially because some of those are also followed by other smaller earthquakes all over the world.
The effects of earthquakes during the last centuries
The seismic activity from the latest years put many explanations into discussion, but none of the theories would help disaster prevention. There were mathematical models created, the activity of volcanoes and of the moon was considered as possible reasons for this, but none of those helped. The most recent theory sustains that the big earthquakes are replicas of the earthquakes that took place hundreds of years ago.
The majority of strong earthquakes appear at the edge of tectonic planks, and their replicas are spread as waves, to the interior, where a high pressure accumulates. This is a possible explanation for the Chinese Earthquake in 2008, in a region that didn’t knew earthquakes for quite a while.
The force of the super moon
The physician Piers Corbyn thinks that the Earth shakes because of the influence of the Moon and the Sun. NASA does not exclude the scenario in which the powerful solar explosions from the last five years might be connected with the disasters of Terra, but there are no solid proofs. However, the assumption comes from a real fact: the Japanese earthquake from 2011 happened when the moon was getting closer to the Earth. The next time when the Moon will be that close to the Earth is 10 August 2014, a date that should be noted in the calendar.
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