(I365News)- Though the past year has been replete with troubling news items that include a pandemic and hotly contested US Presidential election, the earth-shaking beneath our feet seems to have gone unnoticed. In the first 65 days of this year, 42 major quakes, magnitude 6 or higher, have shaken the planet.
The year with the largest total was 2010, with 24 major earthquakes greater thzdwan or equal to magnitude 7.0. In 2011, a total of 207 earthquakes of magnitude 6.0 or higher shook the earth, culminating in a 6.6 magnitude earthquake that caused the catastrophic meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear reactor and the concurrent 9.1 magnitude earthquake in Tohuka, Japan that killed over 20,000 people.
Powerful earthquakes shook the Kermadec Islands region of New Zealand on Thursday, setting off tsunami warnings. But attention should be paid to less dramatic geologic rumblings as well. Iceland was hit by more than 18,000 earthquakes in the past week including a magnitude 7.3 earthquake, a magnitude 7.4 earthquake, and a magnitude 8.1 earthquake.
In addition, authorities are warning that two volcanoes in a densely populated region of the country could erupt at literally any moment. The number of earthquakes is increasing. In the first 65 days of 1921, exactly one century ago, only seven major quakes, magnitude 6 or higher were recorded globally according to the USGS DataBase. READ MORE
