Since December 26, seismologists have observed over 400 seismic events at Yellowstone National Park—a record number of earthquakes for the hot spot which houses the largest supervolcano in North America. Data is still being analyzed to determine what this "swarm"—a sequence of earthquakes similar in magnitude—could mean. ScienceBlogger Greg Laden will be following the events closely on his blog.
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Along with the stories of tragedy in Italy, there are also stories that the earthquake was predicted, and that the predictions were ignored. Was the tragedy made even worse by authorities who wouldn't listen to a scientist who knew what he was talking about?
The Great San Francisco Earthquake(s)
On October 8th, 1865, the "Great San Francisco Earthquake" hit south of the city of San Francisco, magnitude 6.3.
In the wake of Monday's earthquake in the L'Aquila region of Italy that killed over 200 people, news emerged that one Italian scientist had predicted the earthquake less than two weeks earlier.