Quacks don't mean the world is ending

Fox News:

Folks who work at the United States Geological Survey Earthquake Center in Golden, Colo., don’t just track temblors, they also answer the public’s questions via phone and email. The number one question they’ve been getting lately: “Is this the end of the world?” according to Heidi Koontz, the center’s Public Affairs Specialist.

News of four major quakes in as many months, in Haiti, Chile, Mexico and Indonesia, has prompted a tinge of panic in some who would otherwise consider these events pure coincidence.

“I received a call from a psychiatrist who is getting an influx of patients who are really concerned about the end of days,” says Koontz, “and he wanted us to pinpoint science and provide him with links to science that would help allay the fears of some of his patients. He needed some hard facts and he said that that actually helped.”

Koontz explained to the doctor what seismologist Harley Benz explained to Fox News. That seismically speaking, this is all pretty normal.

“You can expect earthquakes in locations where we are known to have earthquakes,” explains Benz. “And in this case, in Sumatra, it's one of the most seismically active areas in the world. Likewise Chile is one of the most seismically active areas in the world.”

According to the USGS Earthquake Center website, earthquakes can also occur in clusters, which may explain why this year has been front loaded with so much activity. Statistically, the globe is on track, so far this year, to be relatively average in terms of the number of larger quakes that hit annually. An average year will produce 17 quakes with a magnitude 7.0 or greater.

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Don't you feel better already? Most of the places that have these quakes are ones where I have little interest in going. I will go to Southern California in May, but I think all the after shocks should be done by then.

BTW, Investor's Business Daily reports that the damage from the Mexicali quake was minimal despite the strength.

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The Easter quake south of the California border had all the makings of a big one. It was stronger and shallower than Haiti's 7.0 temblor on Jan. 12, its epicenter was just four miles farther from a population center than the one that razed Port-au-Prince and it struck in a city of a million people, half the size of Haiti's capital.

But instead of another epic disaster, the Mexicali quake was a one-day news story. Casualties numbered exactly four, one of whom was a man who panicked and ran into traffic. Fewer than 100 people were injured. Buildings destroyed totaled 45, and reconstruction costs are estimated at $300 million for insured losses and less than $1 billion for noninsured, according to an estimate that includes both sides of the border.

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Not all of Mexico has such strong building codes.