Seismologists calm some Pacific NW resident’s concerns over recent M6+ earthquakes around the world

WHATCOM COUNTY, Wash. — There has been extensive media coverage of 8 reportedly strong earthquakes around the world of magnitude 6 or greater since March 9, 2025. These have, in some cases, resulted in severe property damage and loss of life.

Magnitude	Location	Date/Time (PT)	Depth (miles)
6.3	Pacific-Antarctic Ridge	4/1/25 5:29pm	6.2
7.0	Tonga	3/30/25 5:18am	18.0
6.6	Mid-Atlantic Ridge	3/28/25 10:17am	7.8
6.7	Myanmar	3/27/25 11:32pm	6.2
7.7	Myanmar	3/27/25 11:20pm	6.2
6.7	New Zealand	3/24/25 6:43pm	13.1
6.2	Panama	3/21/25 7:50am	6.2
6.5	Norway	3/9/25 7:33pm	6.2

These earthquakes have been deemed concerning by some lay people on social media being that they appear to be an unusual number of strong earthquakes over a short amount of time. This raised concerns about the potential for a disastrous earthquake occurring soon in the Pacific Northwest.

Seismologists with Pacific Northwest Seismic Network (PNSN) were available to provide scientific evidence and reasoning in response to the concerns raised.

While there have been some striking earthquakes, I have heard no suggestion in the seismological community that anything unusual is underway. Activity is in the normal range of fluctuations so far.
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Based on studying the patterns of a century of large and small earthquakes, it is clear that none of the recent earthquakes have noticeably raised the danger, except temporarily within Myanmar.
There is no dispute about this in the scientific community.
– John Vidale, former Pacific Northwest Seismic Network Director

Some also raised the question, can small earthquakes, like the 10 recent M2 to M4 earthquakes in the Pacific Northwest since March 19, 2025, relieve stress to prevent large ones?

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If you look at earthquake statistics in most regions of the world, including California, you will find that for every magnitude 5 earthquake, there are about 10 that have a magnitude of 4, and for each magnitude 4, there are 10 with magnitude 3. Unfortunately, this means there are not enough small earthquakes to relieve enough stress to prevent the large events. In fact, it would take 32 magnitude 5’s, 1000 magnitude 4’s, or 32,000 magnitude 3’s to equal the energy produced in one magnitude 6 event.
– Berkeley Seismology Lab website