Seismologist: Japan and Ecuador earthquakes not linked
The weekend's devastating earthquake in Ecuador happened on the heels of Japan's back-to-back earthquakes on Thursday and Saturday and has left many people wondering if the two disasters are linked, reports Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC.ca).
According to CBC, although both Japan and Ecuador are located on the earthquake-prone Ring of Fire around the Pacific Ocean, CBC's resident seismologist, Johanna Wagstaffe, said they were too far apart to be related.
"The Japan earthquake and the Ecuador earthquake [were] over 15,000 kilometres apart. Even though they're both on the Ring of Fire, the distance [is] much too great for these earthquakes to be connected. A big earthquake can trigger other earthquakes as aftershocks, but generally that distance happens within the section of the [tectonic] plate that slipped," she said.