Today we are challenging the assumption that earthquakes must present an uncontrollable and unpredictable hazard to life and property. Scientists have begun to estimate the locations and likelihoods of future damaging earthquakes. Sites of greatest hazard are being identified, and definite progress is being made in designing structures that will withstand the effects of earthquakes. EQs occur at all times of day. There have been damaging EQs both in the a.m.
Many people believe EQs are more common in certain kinds of weather.
In fact, no correlation with weather has been found. In the last 20 years we have been able to locate more EQs yearly because of the increase in the number of seismograph stations in the world and improved global communications. This increase has help us and other seismological centers to locate many small EQs which were undetected in earlier years. A fault is a thin zone of crushed rock between two blocks of rock, and can be any length, from centimeters to thousands of kilometers. It is a fracture in the crust of the earth along which rocks on one side have moved relative to those on the other side.