Have there been more earthquakes than usual lately?

Question

Since the china earthquake there seems to be quakes happening all over the place in the papers e.g. Iceland, Greece and Japan to name a few. Are there more than usual or is it only because I'm more aware of them?

Answer 1

No, in reality, the number of earthquakes per year has decreased somewhat over the past couple of years.  However, there are an increasing number of seismology stations globally. This has the effect of rapid measurement of information and spread to news sources. Moreover, many of these stories are more news worthy because places on the earth are becoming more densely populated; an unfortunate consequence of which is the increasing damage to people and infrastructure when they do occur. Check out the USGS site for more info.

also, FYI, there are more than 1,000 earthquakes per day globally. Not all are strong enough to be felt, but they are measured.

Answer 2

there does seem to be a greater amount of activity lately.... i am concerned it could be the overdue earth shift thing getting ready to occur....

Answer 3

We are more aware now.

Answer 4

yeah i thought that too after the one in China and just recently in Japan i also realized that the earthquakes are getting more tense and dangerous...i guess due to global warming....i think it's because the core is loosing power and the tectonic plates are going CRAZY!!!dunno it's something bad not a coincidence.......DUN DUN DUN......

Answer 5

This is a quote from:

http://www.safe-t-proof.com/html/resourc...

"Not necessarily. Earthquakes of magnitude 7.0 or greater have remained fairly constant throughout this century and according to records have actually seemed to decrease in recent years. In the last 20 years more earthquakes are noticed yearly because of the increase in the number of seismograph stations in the world and improved global communications. This increase has helped seismological centers to locate many small earthquakes which were undetected in earlier years."

I do have to say that I am not convinced that the above still holds true today.  I am not certain how old that quote is.

EDIT:

I just checked another source and actually, compared to last year, the number of earthquakes is down---allowing for the fact that we are still in 2008.

Take a look at:

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0197840.h...

EDIT:

I just read your details.  I think that the recent quakes have been of larger magnitude and in areas that are prone to earthquake damage and loss of life.  As a result, we have seen much more media coverage.  So it just appears that we are having more earthquakes.  That's just my take on it.