Submitted by mac-and-dream t3_11daz5q in explainlikeimfive
As stated in the header, is this normal? I understand aftershocks can be expected, but these seem to be too big and unrelenting.
Comments
mac-and-dream OP t1_ja7kfkv wrote
Ohhhh! I thought those regular ones were lower numbers (like 3s). This clears things up! Thanks.
RhynoD t1_ja7xnrr wrote
Keep in mind that the scale is logarithmic. Going from 5 to 6 isn't a small increase in power, it's 10x more powerful, and 7 would be 100x. So, 3 is the kind that people may not even notice at all, 5 is a bit shakey, maybe some stuff falling off of shelves, and 7 is buildings falling.
Sablemint t1_ja7kzau wrote
It's normal. Most large earthquakes have hundreds or even thousands of aftershocks, though most are too small to feel. Sometimes a single earthquake can have multiple main shocks too. Also aftershocks aren't really earthquakes, they're just everything that got displaced adjusting to its new position. depending on how much stuff was moved and displaced, they could be pretty destructive.
Any-Growth8158 t1_ja99618 wrote
I haven't been following all the aftershocks, but they are not uncommon especially after a large quake. The quake is generally large because there has been a long time since the last one, and a lot of stress has been built up. The large jolt relieved a lot of the stress, but there could be a lot more that end up as the aftershocks.
I'm from California and anything less than a 6 is barely mentioned. We expect quakes here, and have sufficient resources and regulations to require buildings be fabricated to withstand these relatively easily. In poorer parts of the world (or somewhere people don't expect them to occur) quakes we'd barely notice here can still be quite devastating.
[deleted] t1_ja868em wrote
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nmxt t1_ja7jc0x wrote
Worldwide, there are on average about three or four 5.0-5.9 magnitude earthquakes every single day. They are usually not destructive (or not very destructive) and don’t kill anyone. It’s just that these relatively small earthquakes are now getting reported in the media all the time because of the recent big one that was very destructive and killed a lot of people. And there is no wonder that a known seismically active zone keeps getting them.