[JimSEA]

"The Earth's surface is broken up into about a dozen or so major chunks that are all moving around. Where they all interact at their edges, interesting things happen," Douglas Given, a geophysicist with the USGS in Pasadena, California, previously told Live Science.

The New Zealand quake also involved multiple plate boundaries.

[BenLurkin]

ibtgr

[PIF]

Ring of Fire ring any bells?

[Axenolith]

Ah, because it’s an island arc formed by a subduction zone? Duh...

[Scythian_Reborn]

In before Godzilla !!!!

[Cboldt]

It’s tipping over due to overpopulation.

[mountn man]

Why Do So Many Big Earthquakes Strike Japan?

[HerrBlucher]

The fact that the active faults are dip-slip aggravates the situation. You not only get destructive ground motion but but tsunami’s generated by upward/downward movement offshore. Its a double whammy.

[Calvin Locke]

Horrible article title. “They” should have dropped the “Do “ and the replaced the “?” with a period, and turned it into a statement.

[Reily]

Building your civilization on a major subduction zone can yield some bad days!

[NormsRevenge]

Karma.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Because it sits on the ring of fire.

[ßuddaßudd]

Survey sez,,
made-made climate change.. ?

[Boogieman]

Umm, it lies right on the boundary of the Pacific and Eurasian plates. No big mystery.

[Mr. Blond]

The gays.

[Organic Panic]

Poseidon is racist. He doesn’t like Japanese.