MEGA EARTHQUAKE HITS JAPAN, WEST COAST U.S. UNDER TSUNAMI WARNING.

[John Galt?]

... earthquakes, tsunamis, floods have been happening for centuries.

Really?? Centuries??

[Chief Joseph]

That's a long, long, time, my friend.

[Vatican_Assassin]

Looks like we are approaching the end times.

Yeah, nothing like this has ever happened before... http://lowery.tamu.edu/personal/songs/hurricane/thestorm/1900strm.
O

Uhhhhh, yeah....just never of this size and scale, so close in time of a span of 6 years and this many of them. Have you seen or heard of it? For your sake, I just hope you're ready for the Zombie apocalypse.

[Chief Joseph]

Ironically, I am. Everyone who knows me has heard the phrase "Oh yeah? We'll see who's ready when the zombies come!" more times than they care to. However, your inclination to assume that a natural disaster constitutes a sign of the impending apocalypse is a clear case of confirmation bias. It makes you look silly, really.

[John Galt?]

Never of this size and scale???

Google Permian extinction or Siberian Traps

[dbucfan]

http://www.buzzfeed.com/donnad/12-of-the-worst-earthquakes-in-history

Now aside from the fact that earthquake record keeping has been enhanced by record keeping - there is NO viable record of frequency or severity back past 1900 at which time it appears reporting and recording of such events became more organized. 

[Chief Joseph]

More people, particularly more people living by the coast, equals more deaths in such events. The Earth is still cooling, and the overall cycle is that these events are lessening in frequency and magnitude.  But that's not near as catchy on a sandwich board as "The end is nigh!"

[dbucfan]

Stinks when statements aren't supportable...

[cyberdude558]

This will eventually happen to the US west coast. The San Andreas fault is a ticking time bomb. There are also fault lines off the Oregon and Washington coast that trigger a massive quake and tsunami about every 300 years, and it was the early 1700s the last time it went. The US is overdue for one of these monster quakes.

As for the nuclear plants, I can't believe the Japanese were dumb enough to put DOZENS of nuclear reactors on a fault line. They currenly have 5 reactors out of control, a building that houses one of them has already exploded, and one is reaching meltdown stage.

[cyberdude558]

Looks like we are approaching the end times.

Yeah, nothing like this has ever happened before... http://lowery.tamu.edu/personal/songs/hurricane/thestorm/1900strm.
O

Uhhhhh, yeah....just never of this size and scale, so close in time of a span of 6 years and this many of them. Have you seen or heard of it? For your sake, I just hope you're ready for the Zombie apocalypse.

[dbucfan]

I don't know that earthquakes work on a schedule to the point one could say they're overdue.  I do think one could opine the chance of an earthquake it constant for those on fault lines. I didn't know and hadn't heard the nuclear power plants were ON a fault line.  Are you sure that is accurate?

[Chief Joseph]

Hehe. My zombie child ate your honor student's brain!

[cyberdude558]

I don't know that earthquakes work on a schedule to the point one could say they're overdue.  I do think one could opine the chance of an earthquake it constant for those on fault lines. I didn't know and hadn't heard the nuclear power plants were ON a fault line.  Are you sure that is accurate?

In Oregon and Washington, they have studied the rock formations and dug into the ground and such. And they found evidence of the seabed measured about every 300 or so years going back several thousand years suggesting a major tsunami hit around those time frames almost like clockwork. The last one was nearly 300 years ago.

[Chief Joseph]

Tectonic plates are moving past each other at a fairly regular rate. Rock stretches only so far and then abruptly slides. Clockwork? No. But viewed longterm it is fairly regular. Seismic events also tend to move regularly along fault lines. Expect a massive quake in Turkey within the next decade. Give or take, of course, a few hundred years (a blink of the eye in geological time).

[dbucfan]

The geological time comparison I recognize, the 300 year reoccurrence on a regular basis threw me.  Thanks Cyber - didn't know that one.  I will check that out as it is interesting - did you have a good link on that one?