Millennium Ark: Earthquakes 1992

December 31, 2010 — January 1, 2011 update
By Holly Deyo

2011 began with a bang when a 7.0 earthquake struck Argentina, 6:56:59 AM local time. Since the epicenter was over 350 miles deep, most locations felt little shaking. Is this an omen of big things to come this year? Who knows? Though it is interesting to see the first day of the new year experience such a significant event.

Yes, it's true, more earthquakes than usual struck in 2010. Because many events clustered together during the first seven months, it furthered magnified the data. It could have been ho-hum – maybe – if they petered out, but they didn't. Instead they continued to peg the high side.

Something unique occurred July 23^rd. Three massive earthquakes – 7.3, 7.6 and 7.4 – struck the Philippines in rapid succession, like seismic gunfire. Since then thousands of aftershocks have hit the same area.

Other quakes shook areas with rare prior events. Yesterday's Indiana 3.8 shake (video right) was called "highly irregular, extremely rare, unprecedented". This moderate event was strong enough to crack the Earth's surface and felt in parts of Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin and Kentucky.

Quakes don't have to peg the largest magnitude to bring utter destruction. Look at January's Haiti event. That 7.0 event is responsible for this year's massive death toll. "The cost of rebuilding Haiti’s homes, schools, roads and other infrastructure could soar to nearly $14 billion." As of Dec. 26, 1.5 million remain homeless.

More Swarms

Quakes clustered in numerous places around the US this year. Many are on-going. Central Arkansas has been hit with more than 500 temblors since Sept. 20 and no one knows their cause. Quakes have been categorized by residents as "barely noticeable" to "very noticeable".

Oklahoma also experienced unusually high quake activity including a Richter 4.3. Some speculated these might be human-caused, but scientists later dismissed the theory. Though the largest event only produced a Richter 4, the area bears watching as it includes the New Madrid Seismic Zone and Tennesseans are worried. Speaking of which the 199th anniversary of the great trio New Madrid quakes was noted last week.

Image: New Madrid Seismic zone. (Argonne National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science)

Another intensive swarm pummeled southern Calif. in July and it continues today. These events coincide with the quake series in Mexico and another 4.4 quake hit on Dec. 23. Just north of Mexicali, San Diego recorded more than 100 earthquakes since the impressive 7.2 Easter quake.

Another swarm formed this month in Reno, Nevada where 46 quakes hit in 7 days. Typically the experts say it is typical...

Earlier in 2010, yet another swarm clustered at Yellowstone. It chalked up over 1500 shakes before quieting in February.

Outside the country, Christchurch, New Zealand saw a record-breaking (for them) 1445 earthquakes following a 7.1 temblor that struck September. It is still recording aftershocks with the most recent the day after Christmas. This 4.4 shake managed to damage another 20 buildings. The main event of Sept. is New Zealand's most costly quake racking up over $3.5 billion in damages.

Last year a 30,000-strong swarm pummeled Saudi Arabia. To scientists' surprise, these temblors revealed that the area is "unexpectedly volcanically active". Lava is just a mere 2km below surface.

Shaking Big, Shaking Early, Still Shaking

This is how worldwide earthquakes stack up for 2010. Not only has a significant amount of quakes occurred, but extraordinary numbers of people have perished in them. Over a quarter million lives have been lost this year when only 10,000 is typical.

By July, yearly averages were already filling up. Disturbingly all of the larger magnitude quakes are higher than 100%, and some significantly more so.

The "birth pangs" are accelerating. Buckle up.

GLOBAL EARTHQUAKES JANUARY 1, 1992 - DECEMBER 31, 2010

Mag.	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	Mag.	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	Yearly Ave.	Thru Dec. 31, 2010 to Ave.
8.0-9.9 Great	0	1	2	3	1	0	2	0	4	3	1	1	2	8.0-9.9	1	1	4	0	1	1		1¹	100%
7.0-7.9 Major	24	15	13	22	21	20	14	23	16	15	12	16	14	7.0-7.9	11	11	14	12	16	21	1	15¹	140%
6.0-6.9 Strong	163	141	161	185	160	125	113	123	153	124	130	145	146	6.0-6.9	154	139	178	168	142	151		134²	113%
5.0-5.9 Moderate	1,521	1,449	1,542	1,327	1,223	1,118	979	1,106	1,345	1,243	1,218	1,252	1,637	5.0-5.9	1,954	1,529	2,072	1,768	1,700	1,922		1319²	146%
4.0-4.9 Light	5,153	5,034	4,544	8,140	8,794	7,938	7,303	7,042	8,084	8,084	8,584	8,454	10,783	4.0-4.9	13,702	13,048	12,105	12,292	6,980	9,427		13,000	73%
Deaths	3,814	10,036	1,038	7,949	419	2,907	9,430	22,711	231	35,000- 40,000*	1,712	43,819	284,010	Deaths	82,364	6,605	712	88,208	1,787	226,895		10,000	2269%