A Moment in History

Every year I turn this blog into a memory book for Abby. That way she'll have something like a mother's journal documenting our family life and memorable moments of her childhood. I also know that some where along the line, she'll use Lee and I as history books and ask that one question that seems to fit every generation: "where were you when..." the Berlin wall collapsed (I remember; do you?), President Reagan was shot, MTV, the Gulf war started, September 11th, Michael Jackson died, or how about when news anchors started getting their information from Facebook and Twitter? We've seen all that. Crazy, I know.

And for March 2011? Well, we saw the 6th largest earthquake ever recorded and the resulting tsunami wipe out a lot of Japan. Insane. I can't help but remember some of what I learned in geology class in college, specifically about the Ring of Fire. The ring loops around the outer edge of the giant Pacific tectonic plate. Which means it hits New Zealand, the Philippians, Japan, Alaska, the entire west coast of North America and South America. The Pacific plate is shrinking, sliding under the other plates as they expand. The sliding is what gives us earthquakes. And don't forget about the volcanoes. A long string of volcanoes line the edges of the Ring of Fire.

The Ring of Fire has been extremely active since 2000. Remember in 2004, the day after Christmas, Sri Lanka suffered a giant quake and resulting tsunami that wiped out most of the island's coastal populations? It was awful. New Zealand has had earthquakes too, but none near as powerful. And then Japan in 2011. The west side of the ring has been very active. Is it only a matter of time before the North American side experiences the same violent shaking?

Also, remember that in 1906, San Francisco had, what most experts agree was about an 8.0, earthquake that leveled the city. Check out this amazing video that shows some before and after quake video footage of San Francisco in 1906.

It's mind boggling to see this footage. I can't help but think that all those people on there are dead and long gone. Do their families still live there? What were their names? ... Creepy.

I want to play fortune teller here and make a prediction. They say that these large quakes, 8.0 or more, happen every one hundred years or so. That means the next quake should have happened around 2006. It didn't. And, calculating the rate that the quakes are circling around the Ring of Fire, I predict that the west coast will suffer a major quake in the next 3 to 8 years.

So, my dear friends and family, stay away from the west coast between 2014 to 2019!