It has quieted down across the board in the last couple of days, with the exception being that quake in the Marianas, which is a little unusual.

I was just thinking that myself - but checked this morning and there's been another spike in activity at the same location - 4 quakes in the last half hour including 2 x 4M - so maybe this show is not over yet

During the Hualien activity, there was a lot going on in Alaska. It has quieted down across the board in the last couple of days, with the exception being that quake in the Marianas, which is a little unusual.

There has been a noticeable drop-off of tremors in the Hualien zone in the last 48 hours - but still waiting to see if it will have a trigger effect further south down the Rift Valley

I have no idea if this is at all relevant to the recent activity in Taiwan, but there was a 4.9 earthquake on the Northern Marianas island of Agrihan yesterday. Agrihan is a small island which is just the crown of a massive volcano sticking out of the ocean.

This area sees very little seismic activity, but occasionally it has massive earthquakes. A few years ago an 8.1 hit Guam. It was the largest earthquake in the world that year.

I've been watching this site: https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/. It defaults to a view of North America but you can zoom out to a world view.

OK, so I Googled it but didn't come up with much. What are the hallmarks of an earthquake cloud?

The layered style

Elongated and layered

Quite beautiful actually

Here's one that someone else took in Hualien

This set is just north of Green Island around noon - have also seen a lot up towards Hualien or Cheng Gong (hard to judge) as well as to the south west around Luye (roughly)

Given the historical patterns, it would be wise for people living along the coast from Hualien to Taidong to be on alert

People think there's nothing you can do to prepare for an earthquake but there are a few things

The main one is use metal brackets to attach your large upright bits of furniture to the wall

You can also tape cupboards closed if you there's an upsurge in activity

The recent earthquakes do seem to be marked by a series of fore-shocks so despite what the experts say, you can forecast a big one to some extent

If we start getting any movement here then I will be very concerned

Here are a few more examples from the previous week

That second graphic is very telling. I'd have an evacuation bag packed if I were you. Actually, you might be better of right where you are, unless that mountain decides to shift.

Here's a great photo from Hualien - including some good ol' Taiwan know-how with the way they've propped it up - imagine doing that job in the midst of all the aftershocks!

And a graphic for the 1951 sequential event showing how it's path played out down the Rift Valley in the space of a couple of months

I suspect there's at least one more big one left in this sequence for Hualien

Then, according to previous history, the whole show could move south to Taidong

Amazing bravery shown by the rescuers to be getting people out of buildings while major quakes still happening with alarming regularity

Massive goof by CWB who called the peak of the sequence with the 5.8M (US 6.1) quake three nights ago and told everyone to relax and that the main danger had passed - given the unprecedented level of activity it was a mind-bogglingly stupid call

That's around 6 earthquakes of 5M or more

In 1951 they had 3 x 7+M in Hualien which went onto trigger 6-7M quakes on another three separate faults all down the coast as far as Taidong city

The concern is that it will repeat that pattern.

I feel there is a high likelihood it will trigger at least a 5M in my area at some stage in the next few weeks - the question is whether it's still escalating in Hualien and is there a 7M in the works there or has it maxed out at the 6M of last night

They are now saying 4 confirmed dead and 183 missing - so unfortunately we can expect the death toll to rise in the next couple of days

https://tw.news.appledaily.com/local/realtime/20180207/1293652/

They are occurring at a rate of several per hour

CWB has finally admitted that maybe this is not 'normal' after all

Watched some of the tv footage and was struck by the extreme bravery of the rescuers - working tirelessly to get people out of partially collapsed buildings even as Hualien city continues to get rocked by almost continuous earthquakes

Reports of 2 dead and 100 people injured - I suspect that's going to go up

Video of a collapsed building

https://youtu.be/-L6qpsb2FgU

Fuck me! Get those guys out of there! Don't worry about keeping the road open until someone has got a handle on what we're dealing with here - it's outrageous that they are sending workers into a situation like that just to keep a road open

Although it was called a 6M by CWB, the US has called it a 6.4

Despite the Taipei Times stupidly reporting no casualties or damage, pictures are emerging of pretty extensive damage with two people confirmed dead so far

4 buildings have toppled, including two hotels, and a bridge has twisted and become unusable

Wow. You'd think they would treat this as an ongoing event, the ongoing event that it is.

Exactly, it's a classic head in the sand scenario.

The same way the government never got around to closing Su Hwa Highway until two two buses got swept off it in a typhoon - they are waiting for someone to die until they act

Apparently CWB sent a threatening legal notice to a guy who is into predicting earthquakes who'd also red-flagged this sequence - saying he was causing public panic

If 100 earthquakes over a four day period is not going to cause panic then I doubt some guy online asking CWB to release the ULF data is going to do it

Meanwhile, the earthquakes have continued all night at the rate of one every 10 minutes - they just had a 4.5 - all of them shallow

It's at a point now, with such unprecedented activity, that anything would seem possible - including a monster 9M quake