So, most of you know that I have a slight and not so modest obsession over these darn quakes. The difference is that nowadays I don't automatically tie quakes to 2012, rather I have been able to accept that these things happen frequently as part of nature. As for this event, my thoughts go to all the people struggeling from the aftermaths of the big 8.9 quake (and ofcourse to all that lost their lives during this tragic event).
But, I have some questions that I hope someone will be able to answer; is strong quakes such as this always followed by this intense storm of aftershocks that we can se on the USGS site? As far as I can tell there's been between 10-15 M6-6.9 quakes/day since the big quake (as well as 40-ish M5-5.9 and quite a few 7's)? Was the amount of aftershocks as intense after the Chile quake last year? I know that plate tectonics is quite a mystery from time to time, but I was under the impression that quakes happen when enough stress is built up beneath (to really simplify things in absurdum) so wouldn't a big quake be the stress release and then just followed by a few aftershocks?
I'm sorry if I'm rambling on in my usual way here, but this thing confuses me quite a bit. Shouldn't the seismic activity slow down by now, or could "we" (those living along the ring of fire) be in for yet another big quake in the next couple of days?
Facts are stubborn things.
- Ronald Reagan






