In what looks like sympathetic seismic activity, there has been a burst of quakes in the Philippines, just days after a string of large quakes not all that far south off of Vanuatu.

M 5.2 — Negros – Cebu region, Philippines
M 5.8 — Negros – Cebu region, Philippines
M 6.0 — Negros – Cebu region, Philippines
M 5.6 — Negros – Cebu region, Philippines
M 6.7 — Negros – Cebu region, Philippines

One has to wonder what in the world is going on there. Is this the precursor to more activity world wide? Does it mean anything at all?

USGS PAGER Data

Other recent strings of activity:

Complete string of Moderate Quakes Worldwide

M 5.2 — Negros – Cebu region, Philippines
M 5.8 — Negros – Cebu region, Philippines
M 6.0 — Negros – Cebu region, Philippines
M 5.6 — Negros – Cebu region, Philippines
M 6.7 — Negros – Cebu region, Philippines
M 5.1 — Fiji region
M 5.2 — Mindanao, Philippines
M 6.0 — Vanuatu
M 5.2 — Kyrgyzstan
M 5.0 — southern Iran
M 5.0 — Vanuatu
M 6.1 — Vanuatu
M 5.2 — Kepulauan Kai, Indonesia
M 5.3 — Owen Fracture Zone region
M 5.7 — Vancouver Island, Canada region
M 5.4 — Samar, Philippines
M 5.1 — central Mid-Atlantic Ridge
M 5.2 — Vanuatu
M 5.6 — Samar, Philippines
M 5.8 — Tonga
M 5.4 — central Mongolia
M 5.1 — Taiwan region
M 5.1 — New Britain region, Papua New Guinea
M 5.7 — Vanuatu
M 5.4 — Vanuatu
M 6.0 — Vanuatu
M 5.1 — Vanuatu
M 5.1 — Vanuatu
M 5.2 — Vanuatu
M 5.5 — Vanuatu
M 5.0 — Vanuatu
M 5.3 — Vanuatu
M 7.1 — Vanuatu
M 5.5 — New Britain region, Papua New Guinea
M 5.0 — New Ireland region, Papua New Guinea
M 5.4 — New Britain region, Papua New Guinea
M 5.0 — near the coast of southern Peru
M 5.0 — west of Macquarie Island
M 5.3 — Easter Island region
M 5.6 — southern Sumatra, Indonesia
M 5.2 — Samar, Philippines
M 5.1 — Vanuatu

A series of large quakes has hit the area near Vanuatu.

Here is a snapshot of the activity tracked on my homepage [ LINK ]. There have been big quakes near there for some time, but this is cluster of very large events:

M 5.0 — Vanuatu
M 6.1 — Vanuatu
M 5.2 — Vanuatu
M 5.7 — Vanuatu
M 5.4 — Vanuatu
M 6.0 — Vanuatu
M 5.1 — Vanuatu
M 5.1 — Vanuatu
M 5.2 — Vanuatu
M 5.5 — Vanuatu
M 5.0 — Vanuatu
M 5.3 — Vanuatu
M 7.1 — Vanuatu
M 5.1 — Vanuatu

It would appear that there is a some significant seismic activity in that region. Other areas like New Zealand and the seemingly always active Papua New Guinea are also seeing events.

M 5.0 — Kermadec Islands, New Zealand
M 5.4 — Kermadec Islands, New Zealand
M 5.4 — Kermadec Islands, New Zealand
M 5.2 — Kermadec Islands, New Zealand

M 5.5 — New Britain region, Papua New Guinea
M 5.0 — New Ireland region, Papua New Guinea
M 5.4 — New Britain region, Papua New Guinea
M 5.1 — New Britain region, Papua New Guinea
M 5.3 — Papua, Indonesia

The largest of the recent events [ LINK ] happened Thursday, February 02, 2012 at 13:34:40 UTC.

As illustrated in this clipping from the USGS Map for the event, there has been a lot of large quake activity in the last 7 days.

Fortunately, despite the area having structures vulnerable to shaking damage, the estimated threat to population due to distance is virtually nil [ LINK ]. It’s estimated less that there was a 30% chance of any fatality, and a 4% chance of more than 30.

Epicenter for the quakes appears to be on a submarine ridge between two island chains. A very nice nursery for a tsunami, should there be significant under sea land movement from a large event.

As always, I continue to watch worldwide seismic events on my home page: [ LINK ].

UPDATE: – 4-FEB-2012 21:20

More activity near the epicenter of that large quake of Vanuatu… these in just the last few hours:

M 5.0 — Vanuatu
M 6.1 — Vanuatu
M 5.2 — Vanuatu