Earthquake Facts and Fictions You Should Know

Earthquake facts and fiction can sometimes be misleading, don’t know what is true or not. 

Here is a guide for you to know what should be believed of:

FACT: They are sudden rolling or shaking events caused by movement under the surface of the Earth.

FICTION: “Mega Quakes” can happen. The earthquake’s magnitude is related to the fault’s area on which it occurs.

FICTION: It could only occur on the West Coast in the United States. Obviously, it’s true. It could happen anytime, anywhere.

FICTION: The 1906 San Francisco earthquake was the d3adliest in history. it was the earthquake in Chile that holds the world record, with magnitude of 9.5.

PARTIALLY FACT: California has the most earthquakes in the United States.

FACT: It can occur near the surface or deep below the surface. It can occur in the crust or upper mantle.

FICTION: Ground can open up during earthquake. A cinematic and literary device is a fault that opens during the disaster to eat up an inconvenient way. Unfortunately for the principled waters, gaping faults only exist in films and novels.

PARTIALLY FACT: “Aftershock” can be greater than the initial earthquake. “Foreshock“, “mainshock“, and “aftershock” are synonymous to each other which describe earthquakes. Aftershocks are smaller ones that occur in the same area during the days up to months and years following a larger event called as “mainshock”.

FICTION: Nuclear explosions can start and stop earthquakes. Scientists do agree that even large nuclear explosions have little effect on the seismic activity outside the area of the blast itself.

FICTION: Humans and animals can predict earthquakes. Though animals could sense the ground and know if there is an upcoming natural disaster, it is part of their nature. But they only sense it a few minutes before it takes place. On the other hand, humans definitely cannot predict such incident. We don’t have the ability to do so because it it the nature that reacts itself, despite the advancement of technologies now, through these, somehow, we could detect shortly after it could occur.