Venezuela experienced consecutive M7+ earthquakes, followed shortly by an M7.2
off Japan’s northeast coast; California recorded an M5.6 the same day. Lucy
Jones, senior seismologist at Caltech, said the events are not causally linked:
they occurred on different faults and plate boundaries, so one quake did not
trigger another. Timing may be coincidental; each quake struck known active
plate boundaries where stress has accumulated over decades to centuries, and
while large quakes are part of the natural cycle in these regions, precise
timing remains unpredictable.
