Is there a disproportionate frequency of earthquakes in Japan? My mental model is that there would be a uniformish distribution of earthquakes all around the Pacific ring-of-fire. But even living in a U.S. state with a Pacific Ocean border (and tsunami warning signs all along the coastal towns), it still seems like Japanese earthquakes outnumber local ones by a wide margin (especially for bigger ones like M7.0+). This could also be explained because Japan has a much higher population density, so earthquakes make headlines easier. And the devastating earthquakes in 2011 could make people more sensitive to earthquakes in Japan. But I guess my question is partially answered by a map of earthquakes on the Wikipedia page about the ring of fire:
...where is does seem like the West Coast of the North America has lower quake frequency. Here's to hoping the Cascadia subduction zone remains quiet for a while longer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_of_Fire#/media/File:EQs_1...
...where is does seem like the West Coast of the North America has lower quake frequency. Here's to hoping the Cascadia subduction zone remains quiet for a while longer.