October 8, 2009
By Olena Heu
KHON2
Experts say earthquakes in the pacific are common...but the magnitude and the number of occurrences during such a short period of time is not normal.
Researchers say some of the most recent earthquakes are related to one another...while others are not.
“You can see that in the last ten days there’s been four significant sized earthquakes in the equatorial western pacific,” Brian Taylor said.
Purple, yellow and red circles can be seen across the globe...each represents an earthquake.
“The rim of the pacific is where most big earthquakes occur,” Brian Taylor said
Dean at the University of Hawaii at Manoa's School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology Brian Taylor says the recent number of earthquakes in the pacific isn't any cause for concern.
“Not the norm for any ten days but sort of the random congregation of quakes, there will be other times when there is nothing there,” Taylor said.
Earthquakes occur when pieces of the earth's shell, otherwise known as tectonic plates, rub up against each other or into one another.
“And its that convergence that builds up stress and strain and its when that strain gets released quickly that it makes an earthquake, and when that earthquake offsets the sea floor you get a tsunami,” Taylor said.
A tsunami is a series of waves that can reach speeds up to 600 miles per hour, wave heights range from two feet to more than a hundred feet.
“We have been lucky for most of the previous 50 years before this decade,” Taylor said.
But for the second time in just over a week an earthquake in the Pacific Ocean prompted Hawaii officials to advise residents to be on the lookout for a possible tsunami.
“We've had a warning network that has been great for Hawaii, we've been ready,” Taylor said.
Taylor says if a tsunami were to hit Hawaii it’s doubtful the entire state would be wiped out.
“Its unlikely that we would see a water wave that crests the high mountains of the islands,” Taylor said.
But it is important to heed the warnings and be prepared.
“People should have been woken up by the Sumatra earthquake in 2004 that was a huge earthquake magnitude 9.3,” Taylor said.
http://www.khon2.com/mostpopular/story/Several-Recent-Earthquakes-in-Pacific-Unusual/PVl0n7RVJECe0fUkzsv-LA.cspx