At least five different natural disaster events occurred in the Pacific Rim in recent weeks, including a 7.9 magnitude earthquake in Kodiak, Alaska, a 6.1 magnitude quake in Indonesia and the eruption of Mount Kusatsu-Shirane near Tokyo.
A series of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions in recent weeks in the geological disaster zone known as the Ring of Fire are not connected, according to scientists.
In the latest incident this week, a strong earthquake has killed at least seven people and dozens are missing near Taiwan's popular coastal tourist city of Hualien. Afershocks have continued to rock the city.
At least five different natural disaster events occurred in the Pacific Rim in recent weeks, including a 7.9 magnitude earthquake in Kodiak, Alaska, a 6.1 magnitude quake in Indonesia and the eruption of Mount Kusatsu-Shirane near Tokyo.
However, experts suggest the number and intensity of the cataclysmic activity is nothing more than a coincidence.
“There’s not really likely to be any connection,” Curtin University geologist Chris Elders told The New Daily.
“While they do indeed have the same origin – the Ring of Fire – these recent events are a coincidence. The region itself is a breeding ground for seismic activity.”
The Ring of Fire is a volatile chain of 452 volcanoes, tectonic plates and earthquake zones, spanning 40,000km in a horseshoe around the edges of the Pacific Ocean.
It stretches from New Zealand, through Indonesia, the Philippines, and down the coasts of Alaska and the west coast of the Americas.
In the latest magnitude 6.4-quake, which hit near Hualien on Taiwan's east coast, four buildings collapsed, officials said.
Taiwan is regularly rocked by earthquakes. A magnitude 6.4 quake in 2016 claimed 40 lives, while the biggest earthquake in recent memory – a magnitude 7.3 tremor – killed 2,400 people in 1999.