Why are earthquakes common around the Pacific rim?
Even though small earthquakes can occur almost anywhere, most earthquakes–large or small–take place at the edges of tectonic plates, which move past one another at rates of a few cm per year. Altogether the earth is covered by approximately 20 such plates; the largest of these plates lies beneath most of the Pacific Ocean; while two others share a boundary with western South America. Thus, almost the entire Pacific rim happens to lie along a plate boundary. Q: Has human activity triggered any deadly earthquakes around the world? A: Human activity is not responsible for the vast majority of earthquakes.However, a few destructive earthquakes apparently have been triggered by the filling of large, deep man-made reservoirs. The December 10, 1967, earthquake at Koyna, India (M 6.3) is the largest and most damaging such earthquake, claiming over 200 lives, injuring over 1,500, rendering thousands homeless, and destroying much of the infrastructure in the Koyna Nagar town. Q: Since seismogr
