Overall, there are more than 100,000 earthquakes each year around the world of at least 3.0 magnitude intensity, the U.S. Geological Survey reports, as the massive tectonic plates of rock that cover the earth slowly slide and smash into and over each other.
"The (Wednesday) quakes are in two completely different seismic zones," said U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist John Bellinni. It's not even that unusual to have two quakes of at least 6-magnitude on the same day, Bellini added. With about 100 6+ magnitude quakes a year worldwide, that averages out to about two per week.
An earthquake is caused by a sudden slip on a fault line along tectonic plates, which are always slowly moving (though they get stuck at their edges due to friction), according to the U.S. Geological Survey. When the stress on the edge overcomes the friction, an earthquake occurs, releasing the energy in waves that travel through the earth's crust and cause the shaking that we feel.
Another expert agreed that the Italian quake is just too far away from the Myanmar quake to be related, and too small. "Italy has a history of such tragic, moderately large events," said John Vidale, director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network at the University of Washington."It is not the most active area in the world, but this is no surprise," he said.
Italy is a seismically active region, and that quake occurred along a boundary where the tectonic plate of Africa is crashing into the European plate, Bellini said.
The two quakes were more than 5,000 miles apart.
The one that hit Italy was a magnitude 6.2 quake, killing at least 120 people, while the one that rocked Myanmar was measured at 6.8. So far, 3 people are confirmed dead in the Myanmar quake. Deeper quakes tend to do less damage.
While a weaker quake, the death toll in Italy was higher, Susan Hough, a U.S.G.S. seismologist said, as the center of the quake was only six miles below the surface. The one in Myanmar was some 50 miles below the surface.
The quake in Italy was too small to impact any other quakes, she added, though some big earthquakes do send out shock waves around the world, and its these waves that can influence faults in other areas.
However, she said it's possible there are interactions between quakes that we still don't yet understand.
This is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Accordingly, it is difficult to figure out when to end it. But then, this is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Period.
ConversionConversion EmoticonEmoticon