Numerous earthquakes have hit the West Coast recently. A powerful 8.2-magnitude earthquake hit off the coast of Chile last night. So many are wondering if these quakes are a sign of a larger one on the horizon.
Fear not, South Florida; the ground won't be shaking here anytime soon. It may open up beneath your feet and swallow you, but chances of it shaking are rather unlikely.
There are instances of earthquakes in Florida dating back as far as 1879 in St. Augustine but none anywhere near South Florida. Over the course of 250 years of seismic-event recording, there have been 33 instances of seismic events in Florida and the surrounding waters.
The image below is a Seismicity Map from 1973 to March 2012, plotting instances of reported seismic activity in the region. As you can see, most of the activity is far off in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico or Atlantic Ocean; some also happened in the vicinity of the Florida Panhandle.
So it's pretty clear, while South Florida has its own share of natural disasters to worry about, earthquakes are not one of them.
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