We are moving through uncharted regions of space as our galaxy moves ahead, thus encountering many unknown external challenges. The webmaster on syzygy.org believes the moon and ocean tides have a lot to do with triggering earthquakes. I tend to think external geomagnetic forces generated by the sun play a significant role.
People do not really care what I think because I am not a scientist.
I agree fully that the Earth reacts to space/solar weather.
In relation to this latest rash of major earthquakes, the root causes may actually be both,lunar, tides in conjunction with solar related external geomagnetic forces.
I received this data tonight via an e-mail update service: A magnitude 5.5 earthquake IN THE TAIWAN REGION has occurred at: 24.68N 122.35E Depth 105km Fri Jan 21 14:28:22 2005 UTC
2005/01/21 12:45 M 5.6 OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN Z= 10km 34.20N 141.55E
2005/01/21 13:45 M 6.0 COAST OF ECUADOR Z= 10km 1.12S 80.71W
2005/01/21 17:54 M 5.6 MINDANAO, PHILIPPINES Z=176km 5.12N 125.23E
Below is another report dealing with the Puerto Rico and Hispaniola region:
'In a new study, geologists Jian Lin of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and Uri Ten Brink of the US Geological Survey reported a heightened earthquake risk of the Septentrional fault zone, which cuts through the highly populated region in the Dominican Republic.
Their findings were published in the Journal of Geophysical Research from the American Geophysical Union last December.
With nearly 20 million people now living in this tourist region and a major earthquake occurring on average every 50 years, scientists say it is not a question of if it will happen but when.
The most recent major earthquake, a magnitude 8.1 in Richter scale in 1946, resulted in a tsunami that killed a reported 1,600 people. "According to our research and based on the historical records, the probability of a major earthquake that can cause tsunami in Caribbean region is very, very high," Lin told Xinhua. "This disaster, if it happens nowadays, will certainly kill much more people than it did half a century ago."
The geologically active offshore Puerto Rico and Hispaniola trenches are capable of producing earthquakes over magnitude 7.5. The Indonesian earthquake on December 26, which generated a tsunami that killed an estimated 150,000 people, came from a fault of similar structure, but was a magnitude 9.0.'
'Lin and Brink studied the geology of the northern Caribbean plate boundary, looked at historical earthquake data in the region,and used three-dimensional models to calculate the stress changes in and near the trenches after each earthquake.'
'They say stress has increased for the Hispaniola area, and that the potential threat of earthquakes and resulting possible tsunamis from the Puerto Rico and Hispaniola trenches is real and should be taken seriously.'
People will sit up and take notice when one, just a single prognostication comes in right on the money concerning a massive earthquake.