Earthquakes explained: Are they happening more often?

In an op-ed for The Straits TImes, Dr Karen Lythgoe, a Senior Research Fellow from the Earth Observatory of Singapore at NTU Singapore discussed how with the spate of earthquakes hitting Mexico and Taiwan in the past couple of months, it may seem they are happening more often.  But that isn’t the case, as she explains.

“On average, there are about 15 large earthquakes every year with magnitudes greater than 7.0. In the first 10 months of 2022, only seven such earthquakes were recorded, so the frequency of these disasters is within the normal range. Based on the statistical expectation of 15 large earthquakes per year, a few more large earthquakes are expected to happen before the end of 2022,” she wrote.

Dr Lythgoe also elaborated on Singapore’s risk of being exposed to an earthquake in the future.