All Shook Up: Tonga

Lots of seismic activity in the South Pacific. First, we have a volcano erupting. Later, by a few hours, a 7.7 earthquake occurs with an epicenter located at the red dot, in the graphic to the right.

If you want to know where Tonga is located, there is a tiny inset globe illustrating the location of Australia, and the little drop of blood to the east of Australia is Tonga.

The video is funny. Listen to the woman narrating. She says, according to the scientists she interviewed, that there would be no damage to the environment from the eruption. Tell that to all the fish that got blown to smithereens.



Another interesting thing is that the geologists aren't really sure if the two events, the volcano and the earthquake are related. Are you kidding me? The article says the two events are about 200km apart. That's about 160 miles. That is not that far. These events cannot be coincidental. I'm not a geologist, but a geographer - and people confuse these two occupations all the time - but I do have some knowledge of the environment and I have a hard time believing that these two seismic events aren't somehow connected.