Humans cause earthquakes

Posted By Carolyn O'Hara Monday, January 8, 2007 - 4:44 PM Share

EarthquakeDrill Humans are often at the mercy of Mother Nature, but, in some cases, we may be unfairly shifting the blame. Christian D. Klose, a researcher at Columbia's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory has identified more than 200 earthquakes, most in the last 60 years, that were caused by humans.

Most of the man-made quakes Klose tagged were triggered by coal mining, the construction of reservoirs, and drilling for oil and gas. These aren't tiny tremors, either. The biggest quake in Australia's history - causing 13 deaths and $3.5 billion in damage - was triggered by mining. And a trio of man-made quakes rocked an Uzbekistan gas field in the late 1970s and early 1980s, one of which clocked in at 7.3 on the Richter scale.

What's shocking about Klose's list of quakes is their size. Previously, most quakes attributed to human factors had been relatively small tremors. But these bigger quakes can be especially dangerous because they may occur in inactive areas where people aren't prepared for them. Perhaps everyone should be learning the earthquake drill in grade school.

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