Ring of Fire

My dream of experiencing an earthquake has not yet come to realization, but I keep hoping! I am in Fukutsu City now where earthquakes are pretty rare, at least from Japan`s perspective! There was an earthquake here three years ago, magnitude 6. Few injured, only one person hurt, but most of the time it is very quiet.

You can learn more about earthquakes in Japan at the United States Geological Survey website. As you can see, earthquakes happen all the time, all over the world, probably even close to where you live. For New Mexico, you can see it has been pretty quiet, but sometimes we may have earthquakes as strong as 4.5 magnitude on the Richter Scale along the Rio Grande Rift. You can learn more about New Mexico earthquakes here. This Seismicity Map of the Western United States clearly shows the intensity of earthquakes along the California faults, but New Mexico has very little.

For Japan, earthquakes are a common event, but lately, it has been quiet. Does this mean the big one is going to shake, rattle and roll during October? The Pacific Rim World Seismicity Map gives you a pretty clear picture of earthquake frequency in Japan. Lots! In 1995, near Kobe Japan, over 5000 people were killed in a powerful 6.9 magnitude quake.

Japan's Meteorological Agency keeps a close eye on earthquakes in Japan.

Did you know there is another way to measure the intensity of earthquakes other than the Richter Scale? There is! Another way to measure the strength of an earthquake is to use the Mercalli scale. Invented by Giuseppe Mercalli in 1902, this scale uses the observations of the people who experienced the earthquake to estimate its intensity. The Mercalli scale isn't considered as scientific as the Richter scale, though. Some witnesses of the earthquake might exaggerate just how bad things were during the earthquake and you may not find two witnesses who agree on what happened; everybody will say something different. The amount of damage caused by the earthquake may not accurately record how strong it was either.

For those of you who want to create intriguing earthquake learning environments about earthquakes for your students, check out the USGS Earthquakes for Kids. You will find lots of fun information about the science of earthquakes, science fair project ideas, animations, earthquake pictures, puzzles and games, and much more. There are grade level activities for students at this "For Students" website. And teachers, you can learn more at this "For Teachers" website.

Why did I entitle this blog posting "Ring of Fire"? I'd love to hear from you about this! Take a look at this World Seismicity Map and see if you can figure it out and let me know.