reply to post by ns9504
That's a pretty scary sort of dream to have. In fact, I've had a few along the same lines myself over the years and it's an awful feeling. It's one of
the reasons I'd be glad to see any advances in predicting earthquakes because of what happens when buildings collapse. Just so horrible and terrifying
for the people involved.
To other points. It's four days since my last post when I observed that it had been over a week since a magnitude 6 or bigger quake had happened
anywhere in the world. So now it's 11 days -- plus. I'll have to search a database to see exactly when the last one was.
ETA: I just searched the
USGS SEARCH database for quakes of mag 6 or bigger since Dec
1st and got two:
2 earthquakes in map area
6.0 69km SE of Sinabang, Indonesia 2013-12-01 07:29:57 UTC+01:00 11.2 km
6.4 Kepulauan Barat Daya, Indonesia 2013-12-01 02:24:13 UTC+01:00 10.0 km
(Note: "map area" was the whole world. You can define a region but
I left it open, so it looks everywhere.)
No suprise with the region as they get plenty around that size. But there we are: it's been fourteen days since those two events, which were both on
Dec 01 (UTC). That's a fair break. Not the longest I can recall, though. I'm sure I've seen around three weeks in the past, but still -- a fair while.
(End ETA.)
But seeing as the "average" between mag 6 quakes is around three days and it's now over four times that since the last one, the almost gut-instinct
reaction is to feel that there is therefore going to be a major one, to "make up for" the relative lack of recent activity, as it were. But in
reality, it doesn't have to be like that at all. Yes, it's likely there will be another mag 6 or bigger quake before too long but from long
observation of these things, I can tell you all that we can't just assume something big
has to be coming up soon. Sometimes it goes that way,
other times it doesn't.
I believe our planet's energy interactions are much more complex than any of us can even imagine, let alone begin to fully comprehend. I do feel that
something like the "butterfly in Beijing" effect may form part of it all, just as it is to some degree with the way our weather manifests itself. I
said a long time ago in this thread that I see quake behaviour as something like the weather: a small change in one place could have a major effect
elsewhere, but the link between the two could be almost impossible to directly discern.
As we all know, "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence" and in the field of study as huge and complex as tectonics, seismology, geology and
everything else related to how our planet physically transforms and moves energy, there may be a lot that is absent from our perspective.
Meanwhile, there is the human side and like many of you, I feel a growing concern at this period of relative quiescence. As I said, it doesn't have to
mean anything bad, but our own feelings sometimes don't react well to reasoned thinking and pragmatism and I'm in the same boat as everyone else.
So, we wait. And hope for the best.
Just as a side note, "India" has been popping up for me in various ways in the past several days. That's bothersome, but I can't put a finger on any
particular region. Frankly I'm more concerned about the subduction zone just off the coast of Pakistan but that's for practical reasons, going back to
the quake they had inland from there that also was linked to the "mud island" that formed just off the coast from Gwadar (Baluchistan) at the same
time. That indicated some possible instability in the subduction zone -- well, to me it did, anyway -- and hence my concerns. But India? It has some
places with potential but I cannot nail it down.
edit on 15/12/13 by JustMike because: Added ETA with mag 6 quake data.