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Are earthquakes
really on the increase?
This is a question that has great
importance to everyone on this earth, but especially those who are watching
for signs of Christ's second coming. In the words of Jesus himself:
"For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom
against kingdom. And there will be earthquakes in various places,
and there will be famines and troubles. These are the beginnings of
sorrows." -Matthew 13:8
"And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and
in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity,
the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing
them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the
earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the
Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when
these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads,
because your redemption draws near." -Luke 21:25-28
You can see that before the end of
time here on earth that earthquakes will be one of the many signs that
Christ is about to return.
After the tsunami in
Indonesia, I was curious about whether there really is an increase in
earthquakes happening around the world. We live in an age of great
technology and "increased knowledge." There is really only one source
for "reliable" earthquake information, and that is the USGS/NEIC, or so I
thought. As I read through their answers to questions like, "Why
are we having so many earthquakes?
Has earthquake activity been increasing?"
(USGS website), and "Are
Earthquakes Really on the Increase?" (USGS/NEIC website), I did
not see any graphs with complete data. (Charts have since been
posted.) This interested me. Why
wouldn't they have complete graphs? So I decided to put the data they
make available all together and graph the results for myself. It took
a while to research all the details, and actually I spent about 2 weeks
learning much information and detail about earthquakes, seismometers, and
how they work, and their sensitivity, etc. The more I have learned
about seismometers, the more I understand why they choose to carefully chart
results that are favorable to the public. They are very carefully not
answering the questions completely on both of these sites. They
carefully list Major and Great magnitude earthquakes (which have remained
fairly constant in frequency), but they are clearly omitting the major
increase in almost every other category of quake. While they state a partial truth, it is not complete. The truth
is earthquakes with a magnitude 7.0 or greater have decreased slightly.
But, they are ignoring the rest of the facts. Look at the
graphs below, earthquakes in almost every other magnitude category are on
the rise. Some of them at significant levels. Now obviously
there appears to be in increase in very small (magnitude 2.0 and smaller) earthquakes,
and the NEIC is right in the fact that they have placed thousands more
sensitive seismometers around the world. But in almost every other magnitude in
the middle of the graph, quakes are on the increase. They are trying
to give the public a false sense of security by saying that the increase is
due to more sensors. This is like saying there is more terrorism
because we have more TV's. What most people don't know is that you can
build a rather simple seismometer at home that can detect magnitude 5.0
earthquakes on your own continent, and
6.0 earthquakes around the world! Amateur seismologists
have been running their own seismographs, and charting these earthquakes for many, many, years now.
If these
quakes can be detected by even amateurs, then why is there still in
increase in these magnitude quakes?
"In spite of its simplicity, the Lehman seismograph is
capable of recording earthquakes of Richter magnitude 5 which occur in the
continental United States, and magnitude 6 elsewhere."
In conclusion, I think the USGS/NEIC is
carefully choosing their words and carefully creating their graphs to avoid public alarm. Worldwide
earthquake activity is most definitely on the increase.
The results I found are listed below in the graphs.
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