A magnitude 6.6 earthquake struck the Vanuatu islands last night in the South Pacific rounding up the July total to 14 and 91 in 2019 so far which is already 61 more than the whole year total back in 1919.
2019 has seen a rise in major quakes (m6+).
Major quakes have increased at an incredible level in the last hundred years, of course, detection technology is better than it was, however, mag 7+ quakes in the same time frame have remained remarkably stable, below I have listed mag 6+ every 10 years since 1900.
In 1900 only 3 mag 6+ quakes were recorded.
1910, 10 magnitude 6+ quakes were recorded.
1920, 28 magnitude 6+ quakes were recorded.
1930, 47 magnitude 6+ quakes were recorded.
1940, 42 magnitude 6+ quakes were recorded.
1950 saw a huge spike, 138 magnitude 6+ quakes were recorded.
1960, 153 magnitude 6+ quakes were recorded.
1970, 160 magnitude 6+ quakes were recorded.
1980, 96 magnitude 6+ quakes were recorded.
1990, 154 magnitude 6+ quakes were recorded.
2000, 160 magnitude 6+ quakes were recorded.
2010, 175 magnitude 6+ quakes were recorded.
2011 is the highest count of magnitude 6+ quakes when 2017 were recorded, however, around 70 of them were aftershocks from the mag 9 quake which caused the Fukushima disaster.
All stats compiled by USGS
