BBC News - Massive Earthquake Strikes Chile

OMG - that is a huge quake.

Hawaii is evacuating shorelines in preparation for expected tsunami waves

Just heard on the news here that California is under a tsunami advisory, but at this point only very strong currents are expected. This is something the entire Pacific Rim will be watching.

Amazing that a magnitude 8.8 earthquake is 800 times stronger than the one the recently impacted Haiti.

CNN has Belize in the tsunami watch area - but the tsunami web site (NOAA) doesn't.

unreal. 8.8 Quake Is 100s Times Stronger Than Haiti; Tsunami Threatens 1/4 Of The Globe.

First 2 quakes in California, 1 devastating one in Haiti, then 2 (or more?) in Guatemala, then Japan now Chile? Mother Nature is truly telling us she is furious about something.

I think we can safely say that it's not global warming.

global WARNING

Read - "A Crack in the Edge of the World" by Simon Winchester.

He explains what is happening geologically in a way you can understand. Some years are indeed much worse than others for earthquakes. 1906 was one of them and 2004 was another.

Also interesting is the little discussed, but stunning earthquake event in New Madrid in 1811 - this is in the central USA - it was SO bad that the Mississippi River ran backwards for a while.

yes, that's true. and the earth just goes thru weather cycles too. suuuuure does seem its all happening a lot the past 5 years tho, doesn't it? here's a few other goodies going on right now:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gZ__gE9wXeeuJLqI2g7nQCITMBQAD9E5RPG01
dozens die in flood in france

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35496312/ns/world_news-europe/
dozens die in flood in portugal

http://www.contracostatimes.com/search/c...acostatimes.com
california braces for drought 4th year in a row

http://us.oneworld.net/article/367320-africa-famine-deepens-drought-worst-decades
worst drought and starvation in africa in decades

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/28/AR2010022803978.html
advent of megafarms produce so much manure it is now labeled a pollutant

yeah...and that's what i could throw together in only 5 minutes. just call me Susie-doom-n-gloom.

The last one is my favorite , Congress should be able to help with that. They have lots of experience and expertize in the area.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35662192/ns/technology_and_science-space/from/ET%20

Whoa!

Same thing happened after the 2004 earthquake and tsunami in Asia. Now, another one: 6.4 magnitude in Taiwan.

Strong earthquake in Taiwan prompts panic
Epicenter of quake was near town badly damaged by last year’s typhoon.

updated 3:27 a.m. PT, Thurs., March. 4, 2010

TAIPEI - A powerful 6.4-magnitude earthquake rocked southern Taiwan on Thursday, terrifying residents, disrupting communications and triggering at least one large fire.

Twelve people were injured, the National Fire Agency said.

Wow, all the earthquakes, severe storms worldwide etc, makes you wonder about 2012.

Well, not really, it's making me wonder about 2010. We're not even out of the first quarter yet.

By REUTERS
Published: March 7, 2010

Filed at 11:56 p.m. ET
Skip to next paragraph Reuters

TUNCELI, Turkey (Reuters) - A strong earthquake killed eight people in a village in eastern Turkey early on Monday and rescuers were working to free survivors trapped under the rubble, officials and local media said.

Turkey's Kandilli earthquake observatory said the quake measured 6.0 magnitude and had its epicentre at Basyurt in Elazig province and struck at 4:32 am local time (2:32 a.m. British time)

Does anyone have any stats on how many earthquakes occur per year, that are above a certain magnitude? Potentially, there are often many earthquakes, they just aren't as devastating and so haven't caught the same attention. Anyone?

From Wikipedia "earthquake"

Minor earthquakes occur nearly constantly around the world in places like California and Alaska in the U.S., as well as in Guatemala. Chile, Peru, Indonesia, Iran, Pakistan, the Azores in Portugal, Turkey, New Zealand, Greece, Italy, and Japan, but earthquakes can occur almost anywhere, including New York City, London, and Australia.[13] Larger earthquakes occur less frequently, the relationship being exponential; for example, roughly ten times as many earthquakes larger than magnitude 4 occur in a particular time period than earthquakes larger than magnitude 5. In the (low seismicity) United Kingdom, for example, it has been calculated that the average recurrences are: an earthquake of 3.7 - 4.6 every year, an earthquake of 4.7 - 5.5 every 10 years, and an earthquake of 5.6 or larger every 100 years.[14] This is an example of the Gutenberg-Richter law.

The Messina earthquake and tsunami took as many as 200,000 lives on December 28, 1908 in Sicily and Calabria.[15]
The number of seismic stations has increased from about 350 in 1931 to many thousands today. As a result, many more earthquakes are reported than in the past, but this is because of the vast improvement in instrumentation, rather than an increase in the number of earthquakes. The USGS estimates that, since 1900, there have been an average of 18 major earthquakes (magnitude 7.0-7.9) and one great earthquake (magnitude 8.0 or greater) per year, and that this average has been relatively stable.[16] In recent years, the number of major earthquakes per year has decreased, although this is thought likely to be a statistical fluctuation rather than a systematic trend. More detailed statistics on the size and frequency of earthquakes is available from the USGS.[17]
Most of the world's earthquakes (90%, and 81% of the largest) take place in the 40,000-km-long, horseshoe-shaped zone called the circum-Pacific seismic belt, also known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, which for the most part bounds the Pacific Plate.[18][19] Massive earthquakes tend to occur along other plate boundaries, too, such as along the Himalayan Mountains.
With the rapid growth of mega-cities such as Mexico City, Tokyo and Tehran, in areas of high seismic risk, some seismologists are warning that a single quake may claim the lives of up to 3 million people.

On average since 1900, there have been about 18 earthquakes per year between magnitude 7 and 7.9, and about 1 per year with magnitude of 8 or more, except over the last 10 or 15 years, the frequency is tapering down a bit. Clusters of earthquakes are not unusual.

Thanks you guys.