With four major earthquakes in the space of one weekend on the Pacific Ring of Fire, the region has been unsettled, report CNN and BBC.
The string of seismic activity started in Japan’s southern region of Kumamoto on the morning of April 14. An earthquake hit the area with a magnitude of 6.2, reported BBC.
“I know Japan usually has earthquakes, so it is nothing uncommon,” said Keanu Mataoa, a freshman from Tahiti majoring in finance.
When no significant aftershocks occurred on Friday, April 15, locals and helpers continued their rescue and recover the remainders of shattered homes, BBC continued.
The night after, on the morning of April 16, a 7.0 earthquake hit the same region, injuring hundreds and raising the total death toll to 43.
While news was still flying around the globe about the devastation and extent of the damage, a 7.8 earthquake – which means it was 16 times stronger than the second one in Japan – hit Ecuador on the other side of the Pacific on the evening of April 16. Whole streets were devastated, leaving cities in ruins, according to BBC.
Survivors in the coast region had no time to help the buried due to the following tsunami warning.
Ratu Levy, a freshman from Samoa majoring in business, remembered the earthquake triggered a tsunami rolling towards his home island in 2009. “I was walking to a friend’s house in the morning. The earthquake hit and went on for like a minute. It was pretty loud. I turned and could see the temple. The angel Moroni was wobbling and the trumpet actually fell off.” Though his family on the north side of the island was spared of the effects of the tsunami, the south side was largely devastated.
In Ecuador, the earthquake killed 443 people, injuring over 4000, with hundreds still in critical condition and 231 missing as of April 20. President Rafael Correa has said the earthquake was the country's worst tragedy for nearly 70 years, reported BBC.
A smaller 5.8 magnitude earthquake shook the Pacific ocean floor 100 miles south of Tonga on the evening of April 17, which yielded no further damage, reported CNN.
Though voices were raised about a connection between the three incidents, scientists see it as too early to make such a claim. About 90 percent of the world’s earthquakes occur on the so-called Ring of Fire, where the tectonic plate of the Pacific Ocean borders with the Asian, North and South American plates, according to the United States Geological Survey. The majority of earthquakes are smaller, occur in uninhabited regions and pass mostly unnoticed.
“I have been in a lot of earthquakes here in the Big Island and in Utah,” said Zach Hale from the Big Island, a sophomore majoring in business. “It is kind of creepy, but I got used to them because I have been in so many. I have never been in a huge one though.”
He continued, “Everything kind of shakes. A lot of times you don’t even recognize the smaller ones unless you look at something hanging from the ceiling that starts to wobble.”
Quakes with a magnitude between 7.0 and 7.9 occur about 15 times a year according to information collected by the USGS over the decades. The bigger ones – magnitude 8 and over – happen about once a year.
Though earthquakes seem to be happening more and more often, the data of USGS doesn’t support this theory.
Mataoa said that in prior decades, mankind lived more secluded and a lot of catastrophes occurred unnoticed by other parts of the world. “There could have been more earthquakes, but now people are more aware through technology of what is going on in other countries, especially something as dramatic as earthquakes or tsunamis.”