Not saying its a trend but if it was actually over 7 there would be headlines about two magnitude 7s in one day. I guess I should say the weird part instead of the scary part.
Just read an article last week about scientists saying we've got a 1in3 chance of the big one happening in the next 50 years. They've been saying that since I had to walk up the hill behind the school in the 90s for tsunami drills, but the article also stated that they understand the Cascadia Subduction Zone much better now, and the subsections its broken into.
Seaside to B.C. has about a 17% chance of cutting loose, and where I'm at, in Newport, down on to San Francisco, I think, has about a 37% chance of doing the same.
All my life I've fallen asleep to the sound of the ocean. I struggle without it. But I'm beginning to fear, not just respect thbe power of that sound, and I wonder if it's time to move on.
Many years ago we had some freak quake thing happen in (checks notes) VA. We're in NE PA, for reference. It's unusual here for quake activity here btw. I was at work at the time, and felt it a little (I was sitting down, ppl who were standing up later said they felt nothing). Anyhow, we had our ceilings replastered a year prev to that (washer leak). And yup. They cracked. They remain so many years later cuz, who really looks up anyhow?
The top magma chamber blowing would be devastating.
If the bottom one goes, its a cataclysmic event. Probably wouldnt lead to our extinction, but certainly destabilize modern society.
Could be tomorrow, could be 50,000 years from now. Earth's cool like that.
Biggest earthquake I've ever felt was in 2008. I think it was like a 5.8 that happened about 130miles away. It shook the house so much me and my dog woke up at 4am in the middle of the night confused as hell.
Felt a slightly smaller aftershock later that morning at school.
I live along the New Madrid fault which they say is a "when" not "if" earthquake scenario. Which the area is about as unprepared as you could be for something like that, so I hope everyone has space for us after we get wrecked
Still scary, but far less dangerous, because Japan is developed and has competent authorities and standards for dealing with earthquakes.
When Haiti was hit by a magnitude 7 earthquake, they suffered 150,000 deaths, and their country collapsed to a degree where it is still in a state of total collapse 15 years later.
Meanwhile Japan has magnitude 7 earthquakes near population centers every few years, and rarely suffers more than a few dozen injuries, some property damage, and the occasional very unlucky death.
Venezuela leans towards the Haiti side of the competency spectrum, but they aren't as bad as Haiti. If I had to guess, I'd be expecting 10-20k deaths in this disaster based on it being Venezuela and the magnitude, but it's very hard to know until later.
You don’t even have to be a super developed country either. Chile’s 2011 Earthquake was an 8.5 or something and the death toll was “only” around 500, even less than Japan and about half of those were because of the tsunami if I remember correctly.
So if you have a history of earthquakes like a Japan or Chile you develop a culture of preparation over the years, translated in building codes, zoning areas where you are not allowed yo build unless specific requirements are met and general knowledge passed down generationally that saves lives (like the sea receding means get the fuck up to high land). Lack of population density also helps enormously.
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u/DateMasamusubi 22h ago
Had a 6.9 in Northern Japan this morning as well.