Earthquakes and Climate Change

The relationship between earthquakes and climate change is intricate. The two phenomena are primarily caused by the same forces. Heat generated and accumulating beneath the crust causes the expansion of lava and gases therefore building pressures responsible for earthquakes and climate change.

Hot gases discharged under pressure from the inner earth diffuse through the crust causing global warming. When such gases are allowed to escape rapidly into open space during eruptions, the planet’s temperatures fall resulting in global cooling sometimes leading to an ice age. At this juncture earthquake activities subside, a scenario comparable to frequent earthquakes around a volcano before eruption and the calm which returns after eruptions. This takes us back to the assertion that planet earth operates in a simple mechanical way with varied and sometimes devastating consequences.

Earthquake Trends

Occurrences of earthquakes around the world in recent times reveal a worrying trend. Between June 26th 2026 and May 20th 2025, several earthquakes occurred. 19 earthquakes of magnitude 7.0 and above were registered by the U.S.G.S. Lowering the scale to include earthquakes of magnitude 6.0 and above sees the figure rise astronomically to 175 within the same period which translates to an average of an earthquake occurring every two days. Lowering the scale further to magnitude 5.0 and above would reveal a pattern of high magnitude earthquakes occurring after every few hours on average.

Luckily many of the earthquakes happen deep inside the sea some of which result in tsunami alerts with little effect on lives and infrastructure. But the memories of Indonesian tsunami of 26th December 2004 which left over 200,000 dead and the Sendai tsunami of 11th March 2011 which also left over 10,000 dead with both causing serious damage to infrastructure remain vivid. Many earthquakes that have happened on land particularly in more populous regions have caused more deaths and great damage to property and infrastructure like the Haiti earthquake of 12th January 2010. From these trends we can expect more earthquakes and the worst is yet to come.

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