After April’s huge strike-slip earthquake, the USGS reiterated the one earthquake doesn’t jolt others (out of the region) into existence.

However Fred Pollitz of the U.S. Geological Survey is now reporting...

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President Obama has declared 20 more disasters than in 2010 and 2 times the numbers declared by President George W. Bush in his first two years in the White House.

Are there really that many more disasters though? Despite all the severe weather this year and portent for much more ahead (partially due to massive declines in Artic Ice levels) and resultant economic losses (e.g., a huge downturn in salmon runs), there may also be some politics at play, with Obama being pressured to declare disasters according to this ABC News report.

President Obama has proclaimed September as National Preparedness Month.

A 2009 Citizen Corps National Survey revealed only 57% of Americans have supplies set aside in their homes just for disasters, and only 44% have a household emergency plan.

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U.S. seismologists at CA’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography have released a study indicating fault zones weaken in select locations shortly after a fault reaches an earthquake tipping point. This can then transform a smaller series of quakes into a large mega-quake.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2012/08/30/Study-Hot-spots-may-up-earthquake-size/UPI-89401346363108/