January 16, 2010 2:24 PM

Earth's Quake "Hot Zones"

By
CBSNews
(CBS)  The island of Hispaniola, which Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic, sits atop two clashing tectonic plates, the North American and the Caribbean, leaving it ripe for a deadly quake of Tuesday's magnitude.

But Hispaniola is by no means the only hotspot for killer quakes, as Columbia University seismologist Dr. Arthur Lerner-Lam explained on "The Early Show Saturday Edition."

The temblor that rocked Haiti is being called "the big one" for that particular area, and it may be out of the woods for awhile, Lerner-Lee says, noting that, once a fault segment ruptures, it kind of re-sets the cycle, meaning it's unlikely to rupture again anytime soon. But there could be other places in that fault system, other segments that didn't rupture this time but could rupture soon. A calculation has to be done, so seismologists will look at this very closely over the next few months."

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Among the places around the world generally thought to be considerable risk are the northern Caribbean, the west coast of Central and South America toward Chile, Greece through the Middle East into Central and Western China, and, of course, California:


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Add a Comment See all 14 Comments
by CanisDirus January 20, 2010 10:06 AM EST
Take a chill pill, we're already in the galactic plane. It's just a calendar. Man, people get easily spooked. Moo....
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by sjc_1 January 18, 2010 12:35 PM EST
If Haiti has tectonic plate activity but has not had an earthquake in 200 years, they were due. That is a long time to build up force and it went. The New Madrid fault in Missouri is due as well. It changed the course of the Mississippi River in the past and can do it again.
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by dontknowitall January 17, 2010 8:13 AM EST
There will be major earth quakes at every fault line (hot zone) on the planet Dec.21 2012. Volcanic activity wii begin immediately followed by tidal waves beyond the imagination. Norway,Sweden,Denmark and Finland will be the only region not totally destroyed. Stock up on canned goods and water. Bend over and put your head between your knees and kiss your butt good bye. As seismotologist Dr. Ima Fullacrap of Moonbeam School of Fantasy explained on the comedy channel.

Don't you wish that these people of (supposed) higher education would just admit that they "just don't know" and that what they are about to say is "just a guess".
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by erasmus111 January 17, 2010 3:50 AM EST
I was right! Once it hit 11 comments the "See all 11 comments" thing showed up. And so did my first message in the "reply to this comment" section! This website is a disgrace. CBS should be embarrassed.

It took just about 5 hours for my comment to show up.
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by erasmus111 January 17, 2010 3:44 AM EST
test
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by erasmus111 January 17, 2010 3:42 AM EST
I just can't get over how much this website sucks. The comments are never showing up. It seems to be more of a problem when comments are posted in the "reply to this comment" section. Not always though. Sometimes it is even when you comment in the "add a comment" section. And it also seems to be a problem when there are just a few comments. I'm going to keep posting and see how long it takes to show up. When it reaches 10 or 11 comments, then the "see all 11 comments" thing shows up. Then when you click on that, they end up showing up. And then of course everytime you click on that, some disappear and then reappear again. And each time they are in a different order. And doubled and tripled. Yeah, great website. I guess I should quit talking to myself now. : )
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by erasmus111 January 17, 2010 3:32 AM EST
by ToolMangler1 January 16, 2010 10:49 PM EST
by erasmus111 January 16, 2010 10:08 PM EST
"We have a major fault running through here in Vancouver too."


Be a nice girl and we might let you move to the lower 48... ;)


My other message still hasn't shown up, I see.



I would rather stay on the fault line.

Living down there, I would never know when my neighbour was going to shoot me. : )
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by erasmus111 January 16, 2010 11:16 PM EST
ToolMangler1

I posted a comment to you in the "reply to this comment" but like usual it hasn't shown up yet.
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by Clemsson January 16, 2010 5:33 PM EST
Global Warming and Bush are to blame.

Oh... and Bilderberg. Masons. Skull and Bones. Boogy Man. UFO's are real. 9/11 was an inside job.

And, what else..... oh, yeah: Elvis killed JFK then went to the moon to hide out.

That should cover it.
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by Henri_Rochard January 16, 2010 8:13 PM EST
... And Yoko Ono.
by barbaram99 January 16, 2010 4:15 PM EST
They have found a fault that is here. I was surprised when they had an artcle on the local news about it..There are other places in America that are hot zones.. Every states has earthquakes.. There are them under water..Seattle was hit with a 6.8 earthquske Feb 28,01..I was scared..They think only CA..True that gets hits..There is a faultline running thru Seattle..We were lucky..I really feel for the people that are in a nation so damaged that they have just the clothes on their backs and have lost loved ones.
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by erasmus111 January 16, 2010 10:08 PM EST
We have a major fault running through here in Vancouver too. Vancouver Island, especially. They figure that WHEN an earthquake hits here, it could be the worst ever seen. They figure that it could be a 9. something.
by ToolMangler1 January 16, 2010 10:49 PM EST
by erasmus111 January 16, 2010 10:08 PM EST
"We have a major fault running through here in Vancouver too."


Be a nice girl and we might let you move to the lower 48... ;)
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