A shallow mag 6.5 - 3km NNE of Masarayao, Philippines is the first major quake of July and only the 48th of this year, when you consider we are now in the 7th month of 2017 it is an astonishing low count.
when you consider 2011, the year of the Fukushima disaster 131 major quakes were recorded in the same period and in 2010 103 in the same period.
I know I keep banging on about this but the drop off is unprecedented in the last 117 years.
The average monthly total of major quakes in the first 6 months of the year since 2010 is 15, this years average is only 8, nearly 50% less, astonishing.
Lets hope it's not the calm before the storm after a cluster of more than 450 quakes in 7 days, the biggest being mag 4.5 hitting the Yellowstone Park super volcano and a cluster of 53 quakes at Loihi, suggesting the underwater volcano has been active for some time.
The Hawaii Volcano Observatory has calculated more than 50 tremors in June alone at Loihi, compared to the average once-a-month occurrence the last couple of years.
With California long overdue for a big one lets hope the quietness is not after all the calm before the storm.
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