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An earthquake of magnitude 6.1 rattled across the South Pacific Ocean on late Sunday, as per a statement by the National Center for Seismology (NCS).
The earthquake occurred at a shallow depth of 10km, making it susceptible to aftershocks. In a post on X, the NCS said, "EQ of M: 6.1, On: 22/03/2026 20:57:59 IST, Lat: 15.353 S, Long: 172.824 W, Depth: 10 Km, Location: South Pacific Ocean." https://x.com/NCS_Earthquake/status/2035763156568645861?s=20 Shallow earthquakes are generally more dangerous than deep earthquakes. This is because the seismic waves from shallow earthquakes have a shorter distance to travel to the surface, resulting in stronger ground shaking and potentially more damage to structures and greater casualties. The world's greatest earthquake belt, the circum-Pacific seismic belt, is found along the rim of the Pacific Ocean, where about 81 per cent of our planet's largest earthquakes occur. It has earned the nickname "Ring of Fire," the US Geological Survey (USGS) states. The belt exists along boundaries of tectonic plates, where plates of mostly oceanic crust are sinking (or subducting) beneath another plate. Earthquakes in these subduction zones are caused by slip between plates and rupture within plates. Earthquakes in the circum-Pacific seismic belt include the M9.5 Chilean Earthquake [Valdivia Earthquake] (1960) and the M9.2 Alaska Earthquake (1964). Approximately 90% of the world's earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire. About 81% of the world's largest earthquakes happen in this belt. It is estimated that there are 500,000 detectable earthquakes in the world each year. 100,000 of those can be felt, and 100 of them cause damage. The Pacific Ring of Fire is about 40,000 km (25,000 mi) long and up to about 500 km (310 mi) wide, and surrounds most of the Pacific Ocean. The current configuration of the Pacific Ring of Fire has been created by the development of the present-day subduction zones, initially (by about 115 million years ago) in South America, North America and Asia. As plate configurations gradually changed, the current subduction zones of Indonesia and New Guinea were created (about 70 million years ago), followed finally by the New Zealand subduction zone (about 35 million years ago). (ANI)
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