Earthquakes are a serious natural hazard in many parts of the world. They often seem to strike without warning, sometimes inflicting massive damage and casualties. Often they occur in predictable areas such as at plate margins where earthquakes have occurred in the past. Long term and general predictions can be made by looking at the earthquake history of an area. We can say for certain that there will be a minor earthquake in California in the next year because we've looked at the records for the last few decades and seen that there are hundreds of tremors every year. We cannot say precisely when the next major earthquake will occur. Can you use historical data concerning earthquakes in the U. S. to answer these questions? Notice the legend embedded in the map.
