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First New Zealand, my love land, then Japan, and now Hawaii! What is going on with the world? Do you think these disasters are just unfortunate but normal occurrences, or are they foreshadows to something even graver, like the end of the world, perhaps?
It's just like anything else. These things have always occurred at about the same frequency, but now we are so globalized that everyone hears about everything. 200 years ago that same tsunami could have hit and the average American wouldn't have known about it.
Same thing with crime. There have always been psychopaths out there wanting to kidnap, etc. Your children, but now the news is saturated with duh stories and so all parents are paranoid about where ther kids are ( not saying that's a bad thing) but 50 years Ago kids ran wild so to speak outside with their friends but now paranoia has set in and they all stay home and play with their friends via Xbox live. ( I recognize that is a harsh generalization, btw)
From a geophysicist, let me put your mind at ease.
Japan is on a subducting plate boundary. As is new Zealand. That's what creates volcanoes and the most intense earthquakes. I wish I could draw you a little diagram.
I study the volcanic impacts on tsunamis across the pacific. I measure sedimentary ocean cores and determine the frequency of earthquake/volcano induced tsunamis. It happens very regularly. No increase as of late =)
Natural disasters are normal. They do seem to be more frequent but that does not mean the end of the world. I do think change is upon us (in more way than one), but really, change is inevitable. Now if it started raining toads...
Perhaps.
Back in the ancient world earthquakes were unheard of. Even in the 1920s they were rare to have. Today they're all over the place.
But calm down. Natural disasters are natural. There's nothing sinister about them nor are they harbingers of the end.
I agree with CountryRoads - it just seems like these natural disasters are more frequent now because there are more people affected, and the news is better spread around the world.
Interesting thought - do you think the lack of natural disasters, or extreme weather of any kind, is one of the reasons the British Empire was so successful? Or was it just that the weather there sucks so people wanted to get out and get a suntan?
And the current "frequency" correlates with
Population increase and technological advances (aka seismic stations and 24 hour news that reports them)
seriously, i think were getting prepared for the world to end.
LIVE YO LIVES WHILE YOU STILL CAYN:]
It is no coincidence. It was prophesied by Jesus as being a sign that "the end" (of wicked human society, not the earth or humanity) is near. (Matthew 24:7, Luke 21:10, Mark 13:8) What's interesting is that, even before all of the recent terrible earthquakes, researches had determined that all of the worst earthquakes in the history of the earth have happened in the last century.
natural disasters have been going on for billions of years and the only reason we are hearing more about them is because of the places that it is happening.. the more populated areas. it is not the end of the world or humanity.
I personally believe that they are Signs of the Times. This is the final chapter of Earth as we know it.
Japan is in an area of the world that has a lot of tectonic shifts and they know that and expect earthquakes but of course, they didn't expect this one would be so severe but the Tsunami occured as a direct result of the quake. Certain places on this planet are more prone to such disasters and the people that live there or choose to live there know about what could happen.
It is normal but awful for these things to happen.
Natural disasters have occurred before humanity, occur now and will occur long after we're dead.
It does seem like they were more frequent... anyways... don't panic, the apocalypse is not for the next years.
Oh, and it's not finished for japan. A volcano erupted this morning (for Europe) and there is still that Tchernobyl-like disaster risk.
It won't be another Chernobyl. The physics of this type of reactor simply can't allow it. At most we'll see a minor long-term rise in cancer rates and birth defects for a few miles downwind of the reactor. It won't even be as bad as Three Mile Island, and on that one it's disputed that there was any increase in cancer or birth defect rates at all.
The bible actually fortells that there will be "earthquakes in one place after another" granted there's always been earthquakes, but the amount of earthquakes in the last 100 years have increased dramatically, it's a sign of the "last days"
natural disasters have always occured, not just recently. it's very unfortunate for the people that are experiencing them. but the world isn't ending..so don't worry about that.
The earth is a "living" thing. Its plates shift on a molten core. Without that molten core, we'd have no magnetic field. With no magnetic field, we wouldn't be protected from the sun's radiation and there would be no life on this planet.
The downside of this shifting is when they move against each other (or generally when one rises above the other), it causes earthquakes.
But the very thing causing the earthquakes is the thing that allows all life on this planet. It's completely the opposite from the end of the world. It was the beginning of it!
Tsunamis are a natural consequence of major earthquakes. It's not surprising.
It's all from just one earthquake, that's what happens when there's an earthquake under the sea