on colliding plates

and human fault lines

There has not been a major earthquake in Tokyo since 1921. This may not be good news. Tokyo sits at the intersection of three tectonic plates. The Pacific, Philippine Sea and Eurasia plates all converge in Tokyo. Every hundred years or so, they tend to cause a major disaster. Tokyo is overdue for a big one.

These plates are colliding. They’re grinding into each other. Tokyo, as a result experiences regular earthquakes. I’m writing this on a Saturday morning. The last recorded earthquake in Tokyo was on Wednesday. It was a minor quake with a magnitude of 3.1.

When you live in an earthquake zone there are regular tremors. People there talk about earthquakes much like Canadians talk about the weather. When there hasn’t been an earthquake or tremor in a while, people get concerned. The small tremors and low magnitude quakes release the tension that’s built up between the plates. The longer the time frame between tremors, the more tension that needs to be relieved.

Who doesn’t need a good sha…