the Informer

Is the world really going to end? Are all the recently publicized earthquakes a glimpse of what is to come in 2012? Many individuals are speculating on the number of earthquakes that have taken place since the beginning of the year, starting with Haiti. But what people don’t seem to know is that the amount of earthquakes that are happening around the world is not unusual.

The earth and the tectonic are always shifting and with those shifts come earthquakes. When I was talking to a staff member a couple of weeks ago we were discussing whether or not we should be covering them and upon further research we found that this was not abnormal at all.

Looking at the United States Geological Survey Web site you can see the recorded significant earthquakes that have happened in the years past. In 2009, there are 20 significant earthquakes to this date. In 2008, there were 18 significant earthquakes. There were 12 in 2003, 11 in 2006 and eight in 2007. But that is only looking to the current date. Overall the number of significant earthquakes that happen each year is about the same number. Twenty-four significant earthquakes have happened this year to date, which comparing to the last three years there is not a real deviation in numbers. These numbers happened in 2008 and 2009, so why in 2010 are we hearing about all of them?

It can be summed up in one word, Haiti. The earthquake that hit Haiti was devastating to the population. Also the earthquake in Chile caused massive destruction. These horrible events brought in a lot of media attention. Newspapers and television stations all extensively covered these tragedies, especially Haiti.

Some of it was to show the devastation and some was garner monetary and physical support for the people of Haiti. But with this coverage comes an increased awareness of earthquakes that are happening everywhere. Now more time is devoted to covering these earthquakes, when in the past years they haven’t been covered as much.

This increased coverage gives the public a false sense of the number of earthquakes that actually occur. It makes it seem like the number of earthquakes has increased to abnormally high number when this is not the case.

The earthquakes are just occurring in more populated areas rather than remote areas. I think it is just important for people when listening, watching or reading the news that you need to be aware and informed before jumping to conclusions about the media coverage.