[HN Gopher] Morocco earthquake kills more than 1,000
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Morocco earthquake kills more than 1,000
        
       Author : geox
       Score  : 210 points
       Date   : 2023-09-09 13:40 UTC (9 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.nbcnews.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.nbcnews.com)
        
       | tibbydudeza wrote:
       | Earthquakes in Africa is rather unusual - we get some but it is
       | more due to underground mining activity than tectonics.
       | 
       | Looking it seems this were the Eurasian plate meets the African
       | plate ???.
        
         | ivan_gammel wrote:
         | Are you sure? Africa is a big continent. There's a lot of
         | seismic activity going on in the eastern part of it, there are
         | volcanoes etc.
        
           | ChrisMarshallNY wrote:
           | I think the Atlas range is still growing. That means plates
           | coming together.
           | 
           | I lived in Morocco (and have visited Marrakesh), but that was
           | in the late 1960s. I also lived in East Africa, where they
           | still have some active vulcanism, but I think things are
           | subsiding.
           | 
           | Morocco had a bad earthquake in Agadir, in 1960. A huge
           | number of folks died. I think it was mostly poor people, who
           | live in rather slapdash shanty towns.
        
       | whimsicalism wrote:
       | Having been to some rural regions of the Atlas mountains not so
       | long ago, many of the buildings are built onto precipices and do
       | not look ready to withstand an earthquake.
        
         | saiya-jin wrote:
         | Yes, they dont get earhtquakes often, so nothing is prepared.
         | Worst are multistory buildings not up to any quake-resistant
         | standards.
         | 
         | Did mt Toubkal hike (highest Atlas mountain) few years ago,
         | pretty places, very sad to read all this.
        
           | dmje wrote:
           | Same. Loved Toubkal, loved the people, loved Marrakech. So
           | sad to see this.
        
       | vkdelta wrote:
       | Deepest condolences to one of nicest people on earth. I had to
       | been to Morocco on a vacation and the warmth and welcomeness was
       | highlight of the trip. On top of that, people of Morocco love
       | kids and accommodate a lot.
        
         | turbo_fart wrote:
         | You are forgetting how the men are really rapey towards western
         | women if they have no men near them and how everyone is trying
         | to scam you.
         | 
         | You probably spent most of your time in a resort or fancy
         | hotel.
        
           | lnsru wrote:
           | It's very politically incorrect. But yeah, things work
           | differently in some countries if one does not bring in a bag
           | with money or guns.
        
           | jheriko wrote:
           | as a north african i second this sentiment, a vile and
           | barbaric people for the most part, but will put on a good
           | show for the tourists.
        
             | zen_1 wrote:
             | "Vile and barbaric" lmao. Is this the Arab equivalent of an
             | uncle tom in the wild? `mw twm?
             | 
             | Are there issues with the treatment of women in north
             | africa? Sure, and we should address that, but please keep
             | your self-loathing to yourself.
        
               | pirate787 wrote:
               | It is a form of racism to criticize someone for their
               | beliefs as an "uncle tom" or to demand that all members
               | of a group share the same opinions.
        
               | zen_1 wrote:
               | I'm also north african (in case the arabic in my parent
               | comment didn't give it away). Can you even be racist
               | against your own broad ethnic group (by asking a member
               | of it to not just paint large swathes of it as "vile and
               | barbaric", no less)?
               | 
               | You know what? Don't answer that last question.
        
               | mardifoufs wrote:
               | We self criticize a lot and honestly tons of moroccans
               | (outside the Diaspora, which can be oddly more
               | nationalistic than actual people living in Morocco) know
               | and will be honest about the flaws of Morocco and
               | Moroccans. But honestly even then I never see even the
               | most cynical of us call Moroccans "vile". It's just odd
               | and not really criticism.
        
           | decremental wrote:
           | [dead]
        
           | esel2k wrote:
           | Wide statements with just general negative content, totally
           | politically incorrect.
           | 
           | I have travelled there and yes if you spend time in the
           | tourist places you face scammers often. The contrary is true
           | when far away from stops - so I encourage all to discover in
           | my opinion the best north africa country.
           | 
           | And a small hint: staying in a resort is probably the last
           | way to really understand a country and culture.
        
           | jiofj wrote:
           | Heh, I live in Spain, a country that receives a LOT of
           | immigration from there, and I couldn't help but think "what
           | kind of moroccans has this guy seen?"
        
         | leetcodesucks wrote:
         | [dead]
        
       | p5a0u9l wrote:
       | I have a stellar contract SDE from Morocco. Aside from the
       | humanitarian tragedy of this earthquake, my eyes have been opened
       | to the challenges young professionals with Visas face in the US.
       | They tend to be ripe for exploitation by hiring firms and
       | contract agencies.
        
         | hirako2000 wrote:
         | VISAs are a left over abomination of colonialism.
         | 
         | They hold on by keeping people in fear and confusion between
         | the removal of borders and human rights to visit and settle in
         | any nation.
        
           | slashdev wrote:
           | Where did you get your education? Serious question.
           | 
           | Borders have nothing to do with colonialism. There is no
           | human right to move and settle where you please, especially
           | in this day and age where that entitles you to many social
           | services paid for by taxes.
           | 
           | A nation that does not control its borders is no longer a
           | nation. No country on earth behaves that way. Not now, nor in
           | the past.
        
             | pizza wrote:
             | _The U.S. Government sent its first official communication
             | to the Sultan of Morocco in December 1780. It read:_
             | 
             |  _We the Congress of the 13 United States of North America,
             | have been informed of your Majesty's favorable regard to
             | the interests of the people we represent, which has been
             | communicated by Monsieur Etienne d'Audibert Caille of Sale,
             | Consul of Foreign nations unrepresented in your Majesty's
             | states. We assure you of our earnest desire to cultivate a
             | sincere and firm peace and friendship with your Majesty and
             | to make it lasting to all posterity. Should any of the
             | subjects of our states come within the ports of your
             | Majesty's territories, we flatter ourselves they will
             | receive the benefit of your protection and benevolence. You
             | may assure yourself of every protection and assistance to
             | your subjects from the people of these states whenever and
             | wherever they may have it in their power. We pray your
             | Majesty may enjoy long life and uninterrupted prosperity._
             | 
             | https://ma.usembassy.gov/our-relationship/policy-
             | history/io/
        
               | slashdev wrote:
               | I assume you're interpreting that to mean there was
               | unrestricted immigration from morroco. I don't interpret
               | it that way, I'd need to see more evidence.
        
             | jrmg wrote:
             | _A nation that does not control its borders is no longer a
             | nation. No country on earth behaves that way. Not now, nor
             | in the past._
             | 
             | The world was different, of course, but the USA basically
             | (and I thought rather famously) behaved this way until
             | around the Civil War period, and it remained relatively
             | open until about the First World War.
             | 
             | From the horse's mouth:
             | 
             | https://www.uscis.gov/about-us/our-history/explore-agency-
             | hi...
             | 
             | And specifically: https://www.uscis.gov/about-us/our-
             | history/overview-of-ins-h... https://www.uscis.gov/about-
             | us/our-history/mass-immigration-...
             | https://www.uscis.gov/about-us/our-history/overview-of-
             | agenc...
        
             | Jcampuzano2 wrote:
             | There's no human right to do so simply because societies
             | and governments have deemed it such. There's not really any
             | decent reason it "shouldn't" be a right for well meaning
             | people.
             | 
             | To be clear, I do agree that going somewhere else may grant
             | you benefits you wouldn't have had in where you originally
             | are from and that's due to taxes and other systems in
             | place. But plenty of well meaning people who are skilled
             | and willing to contribute to other societies are not
             | allowed to do so just because they were born somewhere less
             | fortunate or with certain stigmas attached.
             | 
             | Its a complex problem of course, free movement does let
             | some bad apples in that can cause a lot of harm. But it can
             | go too far in my opinion.
        
               | nicbou wrote:
               | The problem of free movement is not bad apples, but
               | simply too many apples. Even legal immigration is
               | challenging to accommodate as a large influx of new
               | residents disrupts everything from housing to culture.
               | 
               | I say this as an immigrant who helps immigrants
               | immigtate, so I'm very much pro immigration.
        
             | csomar wrote:
             | I think he was questioning Visas and not borders. These are
             | not the same thing. You can have tight borders but easy
             | visas if the jobs are available. That being said, borders
             | are really a new thing. In the past, people gathered in the
             | city, but the "nation" didn't really have much oversight of
             | what's happening in the forest. Many of the old world
             | countries are divided by rivers, mountains and sea.
        
               | slashdev wrote:
               | Read it again:
               | 
               | > They hold on by keeping people in fear and confusion
               | between the removal of borders and human rights to visit
               | and settle in any nation.
               | 
               | You see the word border there.
        
             | proudeu wrote:
             | Nations and countries are made up things, you know that?
             | They are not naturally human but a social constructs made
             | up by those in power to have better grip on other people
             | (their serfs) in the past. Usually countries started as
             | kingdoms and the premise was clear.
        
               | ithkuil wrote:
               | Many societies of the past were conglomerations of tribes
               | where each group/tribe had their own hierarchy and the
               | various groups interacted with various kinds of hierarchy
               | or lack thereof. Think of ancient Gaul or North American
               | native nations. Despite them being formally independent
               | groups, a common culture united people against what they
               | perceived foreign. Gauls resisted Roman invasion, and
               | even managed some degree of cohesion under Vercingetorix
               | because they felt the threat of the common enemy.
        
             | kriops wrote:
             | You should read the Declaration of Independence :)
             | 
             | It _is_ a right to live and settle wherever you please. In
             | practice YMMV depending on different states' ability to
             | recognize rights, however.
             | 
             | And yes, the Declaration of Independence isn't
             | authoritative on the topic of rights, but it is a very
             | clear cut explanation of how rights (ought to) work,
             | without diving into the philosophy of it.
        
           | janalsncm wrote:
           | I don't know enough about history to say how connected
           | colonialism and visas are, but it feels deeply unfair that
           | citizens of some countries have many visa free countries
           | (USA, Japan, Singapore have some of the best passports) while
           | citizens in other countries have to deal with a ton of
           | paperwork and uncertainty.
        
           | asdswe wrote:
           | If you remove borders, you also have to remove social safety
           | nets and other things which make rich countries better to
           | live in than poor ones.
        
             | delecti wrote:
             | There's no inherent truth of the universe that requires
             | countries to have such disparate wealth that some are so
             | much better to live in. I bet most people arguing for
             | removing borders would also argue there should be much
             | better global equality.
        
           | andybak wrote:
           | So prior to colonialism, there was peaceful free movement of
           | populations?
        
             | tpm wrote:
             | Not always of whole populations (though often that too) but
             | individuals travelled much more freely.
        
               | dijit wrote:
               | Not in the majority of Europe, especially places like
               | England or Poland which had strict restrictions on what
               | serfs could do for hundreds of years.
               | 
               | Part of the reason for Britains diverse regional dialects
               | is due to this.
        
               | rendaw wrote:
               | That was within the country though, right? Not between
               | countries? And this article [1] says enforcement of
               | serfdom was localized and costly and there was de facto
               | serf mobility.
               | 
               | [1] https://broadstreet.blog/2021/05/07/serfdom-the-
               | state-and-th...
        
               | laverya wrote:
               | At least part of the reason that individuals traveled
               | freely is that only rich individuals traveled.
               | 
               | Paupers from London didn't get on ships to the new world
               | - not without selling themselves into indentured
               | servitude.
               | 
               | When the economic barriers to migration fell to the point
               | that subsistence farmers could travel between continents,
               | we were always going to see either an equalization of
               | living standards or the rise of political barriers.
        
               | bobthepanda wrote:
               | Yes.
               | 
               | Even before the adoption of visas, the traveling
               | experience for a first class passenger on a ship was very
               | different from third class getting routed via Ellis
               | Island in the US.
        
             | csomar wrote:
             | I don't know about peaceful but you could move. There were
             | no visas and in fact no passports. Though, trying to get
             | inside a "city" (ie: citadel) might be tricky. I guess they
             | used gifts before to convince the other party.
             | 
             | That being said, if you settled somewhere in some large
             | empty land, no one will complain.
        
               | andybak wrote:
               | > That being said, if you settled somewhere in some large
               | empty land, no one will complain.
               | 
               | That's because any empty land would probably be entirely
               | unsuitable for a settlement.
               | 
               | Obviously we haven't specified a period in history but
               | this all sounds suspiciously rose-tinted to me.
        
           | throw_m239339 wrote:
           | > VISAs are a left over abomination of colonialism.
           | 
           | This is patently false. Borders and border control are as
           | ancient as human societies themselves and were not invented
           | by those you deem "colonialists", which for you I bet doesn't
           | include the Arabs and Persians themselves colonizing
           | Europe... Or the mongols...
        
             | leetcodesucks wrote:
             | [dead]
        
             | skyyler wrote:
             | Ignoring Arab colonisation of Europe is something most
             | Europeans do.
             | 
             | Why do so many nouns in Spanish start with a?
        
           | gedy wrote:
           | > human rights to visit and settle in any nation.
           | 
           | Well when Europeans move to other countries en masse (even
           | without violence), it's called colonialism too.
        
       | lemper wrote:
       | [flagged]
        
         | mcpackieh wrote:
         | My understanding is that earthquake resistant buildings should
         | be able to withstand up to 7 with negligible to slight damage.
         | Hopefully governments take building codes more seriously.
         | 
         | https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/earthquake-intensity-scale
        
           | hutzlibu wrote:
           | Morocco is quite poor in rural areas. You have to be able to
           | fund a solid building and regulations help little with that.
           | Otherwise you just create lots of corruption.
        
             | Retric wrote:
             | Corrupt is a big deal, but not insurmountable. Convincing
             | people that traditional methods aren't earthquake resistant
             | is one way to sidestep the issue.
             | 
             | It's not particularly expensive to build somewhat
             | earthquake resistant structures. Quite a lot of it comes
             | down to building techniques rather than significant effort
             | or expensive materials.
             | 
             | Multi story stone building generally do extremely poorly,
             | but there's a few cheap methods to significantly improve
             | things such as timber bracing. The goal isn't to make the
             | building survive unscathed but to minimize casualties.
        
               | hutzlibu wrote:
               | "Convincing people that traditional methods aren't
               | earthquake resistant is one way to sidestep the issue."
               | 
               | Actually, the really old traditional buildings in morroco
               | are quite earthquake resistant, because they are still
               | standing and it was not the first earthquake there.
               | 
               | It's the cheaply build new houses, that are the problem
               | and yes, now is the time to give awareness that you
               | should not build too cheaply and what one can do even
               | with limited ressources. But I fear that the main
               | response will be literal death penalty for some building
               | company owners (morroco is a quite absolutistic monarchy)
               | and otherwise not much change.
        
               | Retric wrote:
               | While many older structures survive, you don't see all of
               | those structures built using similar methods that didn't.
               | 
               | Morocco has had similarly devastating earthquakes in 2004
               | (6.3) and 1960 (5.8) that killed ~13,000, but the region
               | gets vastly larger earthquakes. In 1969 a 7.8 occurred
               | far enough offshore to only kill 13.
        
           | lemper wrote:
           | in tfa, houses in the rural areas were the one which took the
           | brunt. also, it's a random poor country, mate. there's a
           | whole world outside the states which has their own situations
           | and other things to be prioritised.
        
       | propercoil wrote:
       | [flagged]
        
         | DoreenMichele wrote:
         | Oh?
         | 
         | Name? Links? (Ideally in English.)
        
           | propercoil wrote:
           | https://twitter.com/hogrbe
        
             | throw_m239339 wrote:
             | Is this documented scientifically that planet positions can
             | affect earth seismic activity? Like the moon affects sea
             | tides?
        
               | DoreenMichele wrote:
               | One of his tweets:
               | 
               |  _Yes, there is much resistance within the scientific
               | community regarding the influence of the planets and the
               | Moon. But there 's no extended research that 'disproves'
               | it. It's merely an assumption. In fact, a scientific
               | paper in Nature suggests otherwise._
               | 
               | https://twitter.com/hogrbe/status/1622641784869322754
        
               | hk__2 wrote:
               | "there is much resistance within the scientific
               | community" is the usual euphemism used by pseudo-
               | scientists to justify their claim. There's absolutely no
               | evidence that you can predict earthquakes by looking at
               | the positions of the planets, and this "researcher" is
               | known for his very vague "predictions" that sometimes
               | appear to be true, sometimes not. It's the scientific
               | equivalent of a broken clock.
        
               | DoreenMichele wrote:
               | I know exactly nothing about this guy. I'm the person who
               | asked for a name.
               | 
               | I was just quoting his own Twitter feed where he himself
               | indicates this is not scientifically proven.
               | 
               | He apparently calls it _research._ I 'm personally fine
               | with that and followed him before it was said here he
               | predicts this based on planetary influences (and hadn't
               | noticed it myself).
        
               | hk__2 wrote:
               | > I know exactly nothing about this guy. I'm the person
               | who asked for a name.
               | 
               | I know that and I'm just commenting his claim; I'm not
               | attacking you in any way.
        
               | DoreenMichele wrote:
               | Okay, for the record, you are officially an antibeleiver
               | who thinks simply asking the question and investigating
               | it and trying to answer it makes one a nutter.
               | 
               | For the record, I hate this out-of-hand dismissal of
               | anyone who asks "What if..." about anything outside the
               | current Overton Window.
        
               | cjaybo wrote:
               | You seem to be reading into and responding somewhat
               | defensively to subtext that doesn't appear to exist
        
               | DoreenMichele wrote:
               | You appear to be making this personal for no reason
               | whatsoever.
        
               | Apocryphon wrote:
               | We are hardly living in incredulous times.
        
               | Capricorn2481 wrote:
               | He just said he wasn't attacking you personally, but the
               | fact that it's flying over your head implies that you
               | actually do believe this stuff.
               | 
               | What in the world is an "antibeliever?" I find it kind of
               | telling you chose this phrase instead of anti science.
        
               | DoreenMichele wrote:
               | Antibeliever is someone who firmly believes the opposite
               | though it's not actually scientifically proven.
               | 
               | For example, people who say Bigfoot or aliens are
               | absolutely not real and anyone who believes in such is
               | clearly a loon rather than saying "It's unproven and
               | seems extremely unlikely."
        
               | kranke155 wrote:
               | This could have been said before every major scientific
               | discovery.
               | 
               | The scientific community must be wrong by definition if
               | science is to learn something new. It's more than proven
               | that things most scientists find absurd and impossible
               | end up being doable and proven.
               | 
               | I'd give this person more leeway. He's not reading
               | astrology, he's working patterns and clearly has not
               | determined whether his research is accurate yet or not.
               | He himself says there's not enough data in some regards.
               | 
               | So what is your resistance based off outside of reflexive
               | skepticism ?
        
               | hk__2 wrote:
               | > So what is your resistance based off outside of
               | reflexive skepticism ?
               | 
               | This has been debunked over and over [1][2][3][4] and is
               | by no mean different from fortune telling. He has not
               | published a single paper nor has detailed its method,
               | which is summarized by various sources as making a lot of
               | predictions about earthquakes in regions that are known
               | to often have earthquakes. Most of these predictions end
               | up wrong, but we only talk about the "right" ones.
               | 
               | [1]: https://www.newarab.com/news/arab-osint-platform-
               | debunks-dut...
               | 
               | [2]: https://www.skeptic.org.uk/2023/02/did-earthquake-
               | guru-frank...
               | 
               | [3]:
               | https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6469019/Top-
               | Austral...
               | 
               | [4]: https://www.snopes.com/news/2017/03/01/dutch-
               | earthquake-enth...
        
               | kranke155 wrote:
               | Ok so this is far more substantial. Thanks for sharing.
        
               | hutzlibu wrote:
               | "It's more than proven that things most scientists find
               | absurd and impossible end up being doable and proven"
               | 
               | Are there many examples besides quantum physics? And
               | eventually and in quite short time, they made their way
               | into the mainstream science, because they modelled the
               | world better. So if this guy can show that his approach
               | can reliable help with predication of earthquakes, he
               | will win. Simple as that. So far I am not convinced, but
               | sure, the moon and the planets are a real force.
        
               | kranke155 wrote:
               | Tectonic plates were considered ridiculous. Evolution was
               | debated for decades. Galileo went on trial. Pasteur afaik
               | didn't find it easy to convince people. Virtually all
               | breakthroughs I can think of, "eminent men" came and told
               | everyone it was hogwash, till it wasn't.
               | 
               | That's not say you should defend bad science. Just that
               | great Science might appear like nonsense - at first.
        
               | hk__2 wrote:
               | No, not at all. This "researcher" is a fraud.
        
               | k_ wrote:
               | That his research subject has not given "proper"
               | scientific results yet (or ever) doesn't make him a
               | fraud. We wouldn't go far if researchers could only
               | research proven concepts.
        
               | hk__2 wrote:
               | > That his research subject has not given "proper"
               | scientific results yet (or ever) doesn't make him a
               | fraud. We wouldn't go far if researchers could only
               | research proven concepts.
               | 
               | The problem is we're looking at the correct predictions
               | only. He's a broken clock, he "predicted" numerous
               | earthquakes in various regions and only a small number
               | ended up true.
               | 
               | > The idea that planetary alignments can predict
               | earthquakes has been long rebuffed by scientists. The
               | USGS has stated that neither it nor any other scientist
               | is able to predict a specific earthquake, but that it can
               | calculate the probability of future temblors. Andrew
               | Michael, a geophysicist for the agency, called alignment-
               | based predictions "easy to refute" in a statement sent to
               | Snopes.
               | 
               | https://www.snopes.com/news/2017/03/01/dutch-earthquake-
               | enth...
        
               | DoreenMichele wrote:
               | Confirmation bias is a known human weakness. Based on
               | what little I've seen, he does not appear to be guilty of
               | it. If other people are overemphasizing his "correct"
               | predictions and ignoring his incorrect ones, this should
               | not be conflated with his position.
               | 
               | He seems fairly reasonable at first glance.
        
               | gruez wrote:
               | >Confirmation bias is a known human weakness. Based on
               | what little I've seen, he does not appear to be guilty of
               | it.
               | 
               | I scrolled through his timeline and found plenty of
               | predictions that failed to materialize
               | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37446472
        
               | DoreenMichele wrote:
               | I've only just learned of his existence. I have no idea
               | why he would publish something like that.
               | 
               | Perhaps it's part of his process for sorting out what
               | works.
               | 
               | I'm disinclined to draw any conclusion one way or another
               | at this point in time about his work. I lack sufficient
               | information and I'm confident quickly scanning his
               | Twitter feed won't adequately fill in the gaps in my
               | knowledge.
        
               | gruez wrote:
               | >Perhaps it's part of his process for sorting out what
               | works.
               | 
               | He's been doing this for years and has been going on the
               | media circuit touting his predictions. He even works at
               | (founded?) an organization that claims to predict
               | earthquakes. This is obviously not a case of some
               | scientist "sorting out what works".
        
               | DoreenMichele wrote:
               | Coolios.
               | 
               | I've just learned of his existence. I reserve the right
               | to draw my own conclusions in my own time and do not feel
               | compelled to cave to social pressure to spout the "party
               | line".
               | 
               | Thank you.
        
               | gruez wrote:
               | >I reserve the right to draw my own conclusions in my own
               | time and do not feel compelled to cave to social pressure
               | to spout the "party line".
               | 
               | What a bizarre statement to make after a seemingly
               | reasonable series of exchanges. If you're out of
               | arguments but don't want to change your mind, just admit
               | so. Invoking some sort of persecution complex to justify
               | it is just baffling. Nobody is demanding that you
               | immediately change your mind or publicly recant your
               | beliefs.
        
               | DoreenMichele wrote:
               | What part of "I haven't made up my mind, I've only just
               | learned he exists" are you failing to grasp?
        
               | gruez wrote:
               | > What part of "I haven't made up my mind, I've only just
               | learned he exists" are you failing to grasp?
               | 
               | I'm not sure why you think I'm "failing to grasp" that
               | part. My previous comment literally says
               | 
               | >If you're out of arguments but don't want to change your
               | mind, just admit so.
               | 
               | The part that was "bizzare" to me was
               | 
               | >Invoking some sort of persecution complex to justify it
               | is just baffling. Nobody is demanding that you
               | immediately change your mind or publicly recant your
               | beliefs.
        
               | DoreenMichele wrote:
               | I said several replies to you ago and have reiterated
               | that position:
               | 
               |  _I 'm disinclined to draw any conclusion one way or
               | another at this point in time about his work. I lack
               | sufficient information and I'm confident quickly scanning
               | his Twitter feed won't adequately fill in the gaps in my
               | knowledge._
               | 
               | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37446779
               | 
               | Changing one's mind requires you to first have a
               | position. You keep arguing for me to see it your way, as
               | if I believe the opposite to be true. I don't.
        
               | krapp wrote:
               | https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/24846/do
               | -pl...
        
               | JPLeRouzic wrote:
               | It looks like yes if I understand correctly this usgs.gov
               | link.
               | 
               | https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/can-position-moon-or-planets-
               | affec...
               | 
               | Or a similar idea about a correlation between solar
               | activity and earthquakes:
               | 
               | https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-67860-3
        
               | perihelions wrote:
               | - _" It looks like yes if I understand correctly this
               | usgs.gov link"_
               | 
               | The USGS answer is a definitive "no" with regards to
               | planets:
               | 
               | - _" The relative amount of influence is proportional to
               | the objects mass, and inversely proportional to the third
               | power of its distance from the earth"_
               | 
               | That's (inter-planet) tidal forces weaker than 10^-6 the
               | strength of the moon's.
        
               | JPLeRouzic wrote:
               | I am sorry, even if English is not my mother tongue, this
               | article certainly does not give a "no" to interactions
               | between planets and sun.
               | 
               | Actually the sentence just before the one you cite says:
               | 
               | " _The moon, sun, and other planets have an influence on
               | the earth in the form of perturbations (small changes) to
               | the gravitational field._ "
               | 
               | And anyway if you search for other scientific articles on
               | this topic, you can find at least a handful of them.
               | 
               | Then you can criticize the quality of this research
               | (single author, unknown univ, etc) but it exists.
               | 
               | This discussion reminds me how the plaque tectonic theory
               | was rejected for 40 years.
               | 
               | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_drift#Rejection
               | _of...
        
               | [deleted]
        
             | tekla wrote:
             | Are you fucking kidding me?
        
               | kranke155 wrote:
               | Why? He was relatively accurate. We have records of it.
               | What is your skepticism based off outside of resistance
               | to the new ?
        
               | oh_sigh wrote:
               | Well, does he have some theory how planetary positions
               | play a role in earthquakes, specifically how their
               | positions could lead to an earthquake in turkey but not
               | peru? Is just saying "there will be an earthquake
               | sometime in this earthquake prone region" really that
               | insightful?
        
               | DoreenMichele wrote:
               | FYI: They essentially murdered Semmelweis for not having
               | a theory for how washing hands after examining cadavers
               | and before delivering babies could save lives. He sadly
               | came up with this nutty idea a few decades before we had
               | germ theory and such.
               | 
               | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis
        
               | dotnet00 wrote:
               | There's a difference between that, where a small
               | additional step improved safety, and this, where the
               | credibility of the prediction would need to be assessed
               | to be able to mobilize the wide response which would be
               | needed ahead of time.
        
               | DoreenMichele wrote:
               | Hopefully one difference is no one locks him up in an
               | insane asylum and beats him to death for doing the
               | research.
        
               | tptacek wrote:
               | That's, obviously, not what happened.
        
               | dotnet00 wrote:
               | Yeah I would hope that we've at least moved past that.
        
               | Apocryphon wrote:
               | It reads like he had a cognitive degenerative disorder,
               | not that he was committed to an institution for
               | questioning the scientific establishment or whatever
        
               | DoreenMichele wrote:
               | That's not how it sounds to me at all. It sounds to me
               | like no matter what he did, he couldn't escape open
               | hostility to his idea -- based on research where he was a
               | physician in charge of two clinics with different
               | mortality rates -- and was hounded and then punished for
               | failing to cave to social pressure to recant his "nutty"
               | idea.
               | 
               | The world was smaller then. Getting away from toxic
               | social patterns was likely even harder than it is now.
        
               | hk__2 wrote:
               | FYI that was 200 years ago.
        
               | DoreenMichele wrote:
               | Things haven't really changed all that much.
        
             | callalex wrote:
             | This guy has predicted about 30 of the last 2 earthquakes.
             | That is less than useless.
        
             | 0xDEF wrote:
             | Is there any proof that he is not just predicting a ton of
             | different earh quakes and then deletes them when he is
             | wrong?
        
             | DoreenMichele wrote:
             | Thank you.
        
             | gruez wrote:
             | >Frank Hoogerbeets @hogrbe
             | 
             | >Feb 3
             | 
             | >Sooner or later there will be a ~M 7.5 #earthquake in this
             | region (South-Central Turkey, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon).
             | #deprem
             | 
             | The earthquake happened 3 days after. This seems prescient,
             | until you realize the wording suggests an ambiguous
             | timeline. The area is a known fault zone, one happening
             | "sooner or later" isn't exactly some deep insight. If he
             | knew about that specific earthquake, why didn't he give a
             | more specific prediction of "within the next week"?
        
               | haunter wrote:
               | He did the same 3 days ago before the earthquake
               | 
               | >A few days ago a fluctuations chart was published
               | marking the region west of Portugal, which is an
               | approximation.
               | 
               | https://twitter.com/hogrbe/status/1699414822008348968
        
               | gruez wrote:
               | Again, this seems like confirmation bias. From the same
               | tweet:
               | 
               | >I guess #Spain and #Italy should also be on extra alert.
               | 
               | He warned Spain and Italy, but not Morocco? Also for
               | whatever reason he warned italy even though it's not a
               | region marked by the map. Why?
               | 
               | Also, if you scroll through his timeline, it's littered
               | with predictions that didn't come to pass:
               | 
               | https://twitter.com/hogrbe/status/1633919887243370497
               | 
               | https://twitter.com/hogrbe/status/1630518718886191104
               | 
               | https://twitter.com/hogrbe/status/1625941900631867395
               | 
               | https://twitter.com/hogrbe/status/1623399446573719557
        
       | freecodyx wrote:
       | I felt it, it was terrible experience, it was so strong that it
       | was felt across wide regions. Luckily the epicenter was a bit far
       | from major cities. At first i did not realize why my chair was
       | shaking as i was using headphones, then for at least 10sec i
       | couldn't even stand. We spent the night outside
        
         | npsomaratna wrote:
         | I remember the first earthquake I experienced. Same feeling:
         | everything around me started shaking; for several seconds, I
         | couldn't figure out what was happening; and then it suddenly
         | hit me: it's an earthquake.
         | 
         | (I'm from a country where earthquakes do not occur. For some
         | reason, I always thought that earthquakes were accompanied by,
         | well, movie-style earthquake sounds. It was kinda eye-opening
         | to realize that earthquakes are silent...)
        
           | mh- wrote:
           | Depends on the type of earthquake, the composition of the
           | ground near you, etc.
           | 
           | Where I live now, weak earthquakes can sometimes almost
           | _only_ be heard, along with a brief shake you 'd easily
           | mistake for someone slamming a door.
        
           | elliotec wrote:
           | Earthquakes are not silent. I'm not sure where you
           | experienced yours but earthquakes are deafeningly loud.
           | Movie-style earthquake sounds don't even do it justice.
        
             | parabyl wrote:
             | I heard a very small one somewhere that really isn't meant
             | to get them, through a TV show in earbuds. Perhaps the
             | volume has something to do with what's happening beneath
             | the surface vs magnitude? In our case, as far as I know,
             | the epicentre was a ~5h drive away (and out at sea), but it
             | sounded about the same as loud subs at a concert to me.
        
             | victorbjorklund wrote:
             | I was in an earthquake in the balkans last year. Didnt hear
             | a thing. Everything vibrated and some stuff fell down
             | though. But it was still quite far from the epicenter
             | (perhaps that is where you hear it).
        
             | npsomaratna wrote:
             | I was in an apartment building in Santiago, Chile--in fact,
             | pretty much all of the earthquakes I experienced were in
             | Santiago. Never heard any (out of the normal) sounds. Is
             | that because the buildings were built to handle
             | earthquakes?
        
             | notnmeyer wrote:
             | not universally true.
        
             | serf wrote:
             | the experience isn't the same across the board.
             | 
             | I was in a heavily affected part of LA during the
             | Northridge quakes. It did 50b in damage, killed people,
             | injured thousands. The most significant noise I remember
             | was the cacophony of car alarms and people screaming.
             | 
             | Our house didn't collapse. If it had, i'd probably remember
             | _that_ noise.
             | 
             | Memory is faulty, so who knows. Maybe it was loud, but
             | that's not what I remember, so I can understand why the
             | descriptions vary so broadly.
             | 
             | No good footage of the Northridge event is really very
             | available, but there is _plenty_ of detailed (and
             | unfortunately graphic) footage of the 2015 Nepal event, the
             | 'sounds of chaos' far and wide out-match the sound of the
             | low rumbling quake -- but that could be a deception of the
             | microphones; I would imagine most of them lack the range to
             | properly capture the low roar of an earthquake.
        
               | fragmede wrote:
               | Northridge was also really early in the morning (4:30
               | am), so it's possible you were sleeping during the actual
               | earthquake.
        
           | klysm wrote:
           | Silent? I think they are the exact opposite. I experienced a
           | very very minor earthquake in New England and it sounded like
           | a truck roaring down the road
        
             | [deleted]
        
             | DoreenMichele wrote:
             | I've been in two significant earthquakes. I don't recall
             | hearing anything either time.
             | 
             | I think it probably depends on a lot of factors?
        
             | victorbjorklund wrote:
             | I was in the earthquake in the balkans last year and didnt
             | hear anything. And while I wasnt in the center everything
             | in the apartment was shaking and some stuff fell down.
        
         | ivan_gammel wrote:
         | I have never experienced an earthquake directly, but I once
         | visited life safety learning center at Ikebukuro Fire Station
         | in Tokyo and had the opportunity to experience the Great East
         | Japan Earthquake of 2011 on a simulator there. Even if you are
         | prepared for it, it is terrible. It's hard to imagine how
         | people living ordinary lives feel when something like this
         | starts.
        
           | Aeolun wrote:
           | In Japan, mostly wondering if this will be the big one? After
           | a decade of minor earthquakes they're mostly annoying.
           | 
           | It has given me a lot of faith in the construction of my
           | house though.
        
             | ivan_gammel wrote:
             | The amazing ordinariness of the disaster. I wonder if the
             | residents of settlements around the Gulf of Naples also
             | normalized the smoke over Vesuvius after Pompeii and
             | Herculaneum were destroyed? ,,Is it the big one?"
        
       | formvoltron wrote:
       | I spend a lot of time in Morocco. I always wondered what an
       | earthquake might do because they quite often build with simple
       | cinderblock. The government actually sort of encourages it
       | because official land ownership is not the norm and sometimes the
       | government will raze buildings that were built without proper
       | permits. Of course people couldn't really afford earthquake proof
       | houses anyways. Sad situation all around. Was planning to go this
       | winter, but I don't want to be a tourist in the midst of
       | calamity.
        
         | whimsicalism wrote:
         | > Was planning to go this winter, but I don't want to be a
         | tourist in the midst of calamity.
         | 
         | I'm very conflicted on this one, it seems like this is the
         | intuition I (along with a lot of people) want to reach for but
         | is that actually the most helpful thing?
        
         | prmoustache wrote:
         | In 1960 an earthquake in Agadir claimed almost half of the
         | city's population. That gives you an idea about how badly
         | prepared they were.
         | 
         | City has been rebuild (except from the hill were you can see
         | the memorial words at night) supposedly under earthquake sagety
         | norms but that isn't the case of the rest of the country.
        
         | zmgsabst wrote:
         | Just putting out there that it might still be a good time to
         | go:
         | 
         | I can't speak to Morocco, but a number of SE Asian places
         | derive significant incomes from tourism -- and losing that
         | after natural disasters compounds the problem.
         | 
         | There's a possibility that visiting Morocco is bringing needed
         | money into their community (as long as you're not going to
         | areas short on supplies). You need money to rebuild.
         | 
         | And tourism is ~7% of Morocco's GDP (as of a few years ago).
         | 
         | https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/e3197856-en/index.html?i...
        
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