Scientists predict there could be twice as many earthquakes this year and they have a theory as to why the increased seismic activity will occur.
They believe there is a link between the Earth’s rotation speed and intense seismic activity.
The link between earthquakes and the Earth’s rotation was presented in a paper by Roger Bilham of the University of Colorado and Rebecca Bendick of the University of Montana at the 2017 annual meeting of the Geological Society of America.
“The correlation between Earth’s rotation and earthquake activity is strong and suggests there is going to be an increase in numbers of intense earthquakes next year,” Mr Bilham told the Observer.
In their research they discovered there had been periods of around five years when Earth’s rotation slowed by such an amount several times over the past century and a half. Importantly they found these periods were followed by periods when the number of major earthquakes increased.
Mr Bilham said: “The Earth is offering us a five-year heads-up on future earthquakes.”
The scientists believe 2018 will see a greater number of major earthquakes as the Earth’s rotation began one of its periodic slowdowns more than four years ago.
Mr Bilham said: “The inference is clear.
“We could easily have 20 a year starting in 2018.”
Although they expect the number of earthquakes will double this year they do not know exactly where these extra earthquakes will occur.
So far this year Alaska saw a 7.9 earthquake off its coast, Honduras registered a 7.6 and a Peru suffered an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.1.
According to the 2016 World Risk Report, compiled by the United Nations University for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS), out of 171 countries Vanuatu in the South Pacific Ocean was rated the highest at risk from natural disaster with 36.28 per cent and Qatar was rated the least at risk from natural disaster with 0.08 per cent. The UK was ranked 131st with a risk index of 3.54 per cent.
The report assisgned a risk percentage to a total of 171 countries, based on the chances of experiencing earthquakes, storms, floods, droughts and sea level rises.
Natural disasters | The 10 countries most at risk
Vanuatu – 36.28%
Tonga – 29.33%
Philippines – 26.70%
Guatemala – 19.88%
Bangladesh – 19.17%
Solomon Islands – 19.14%
Brunei Darussalam – 17%
Costa Rica – 17%
Cambodia – 16.58%
Papa New Guinea – 16.43%
Natural disasters | The 10 safest countries
Qatar – 0.08%
Malta – 0.6%
Saudi Arabia – 1.14%
Barbados – 1.32%
Grenada – 1.42%
Iceland – 1.52%
Bahrain – 1.69%
Kiribati – 1.78%
United Arab Emirates – 1.97%
Sweden – 2.12%