Today in Earthquake History

Today's Earthquake Fact:
One of man's persistent fears about earthquakes is that the Earth will open and swallow everyone and everything nearby. Shallow crevasses can form during earthquake-induced landslides, lateral spreads, or other types of ground failures. Faults, however, do not open up during an earthquake. Movement occurs along the plane of a fault, not perpendicular to it. If faults opened up, no earthquake would occur because there would be no friction to lock them together.

Year at a Glance

January

Note: All earthquake dates are UTC, not local time.

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January 21 »»

Year	Location	Magnitude	Comment

1917	Bali region, Indonesia		1500 dead. One of the world's deadliest earthquakes. Landslides on Bali caused most of the casualties. Many houses damaged. One source lists casualty toll as 15,000, but that seems high compared to the damage descriptions.

1970	Hokkaido, Japan Region	6.7	One person killed, 38 injured, and slight property damage on Hokkaido. Also felt on Honshu and Kyushu Islands.

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