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Japan and Ecuador have both been devastated by powerful earthquakes in recent days, but there is no evidence of a link between these events on opposite sides of the Pacific Ocean.

At least 42 people are now confirmed dead in south-west Japan, after the area was rocked by a magnitude 6.2 quake on Thursday night and a magnitude 7.0 quake in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Thirty-two hours later, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit the north-west coast of Ecuador at 7 pm local time on Saturday, killing at least 272 people.


Although it is tempting to draw a connection, Phil Cummins of the Australian National University in Canberra says the timing of events is coincidental.

“It’s difficult to see any relation because Japan and Ecuador are very distant from each other, and even though these earthquakes have done a lot of damage, they weren’t actually that big on the grand scheme of things.

“Things happen at random – you can get clusters of earthquakes that might appear connected but actually they aren’t.”

Nevertheless, both regions may now be at risk of additional quakes. “An earthquake changes the stress field in a particular area, so it might trigger further earthquakes or it might inhibit them – it’s a complicated relationship that depends on the geometry of the fault that ruptured as well as the geometry of nearby faults.”

Japan’s national broadcaster NHK reported today that Kyushu was still experiencing seismic activity, with more than 500 tremors since the Thursday night quake.

In Ecuador, the Reuters news agency reported more than 160 aftershocks since Saturday’s earthquake, primarily in the vicinity of the town of Pedernales.

Ring of Fire

Japan and Ecuador are both at risk of seismic activity because they sit on the “Ring of Fire” around the Pacific Ocean. About 90 per cent of earthquakes occur along this belt, where major tectonic plates clash.

According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), the Ecuador’s earthquake resulted from a megathrust event involving the South America and the Nazca plates.

In contrast, the two Japan quakes were triggered by a fault within a single plate, the USGS says. “The shallow depth and faulting mechanism of this earthquake indicate it occurred on a crustal fault within the upper Eurasia plate.”

According to NHK, more than 2400 houses and buildings have been damaged or destroyed.

Rescue missions are also continuing in Ecuador, where more than 2500 people have been injured and over 500 buildings ruined.

The authorities in both countries are warning of the risk of landslides, since areas of soil may have been loosened by the quakes.