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It is interesting to note that the Nevada Pacific, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, easy and comforting explanation of "pure area has a 2.65% chance of having such an should monitor tests weekly. Each of these coincidence". The phenomenon clearly earthquake. This compares to 0.61% for areas has up to a 10% chance per week of requires further study. the pre-nuclear 1900 to 1949 period, and is having an M>=5.8 earthquake because of The primary purpose here was to identify slightly more than Taiwan's 2.47%. See nuclear tests in the 1980s being conducted frequency patterns of earthquakes follow- Table 15 below. on an average of one per week. ing a given nuclear test. Obviously, more Table 15: P tage of All Earthquakes . study and research of the question of a link (M>=5.8) after All ‘Underground Nuclear The "Killer Earthquake" and Nuclear between nuclear bomb tests and earth- Tests Worldwide, 1963 to 1988 Tests quakes is needed, This effort is simply a (five-day period) Of all the earthquakes that do occur, the beginning. ° mact frichtenine af them ie the ane identi- Table 15: Percentage of All Earthquakes study and research of the question of a link (M>=5.8) after All Underground Nuclear The "Killer Earthquake" and Nuclear between nuclear bomb tests and earth- Tests Worldwide, 1963 to 1988 Tests quakes is needed, This effort is simply a (five-day period) Of all the earthquakes that do occur, the beginning. co . ; 7 most frightening of them is the one identi- ‘ston teoe-t842 ——-AfiertuslearTesis | fied as the “killer quake". Itcan be defined Selected References on the Kamchatka Alowians: 0.88 os as an earthquake which kills at least 1,000 Environmental Effects of Nuclear 0.76 3.35 people. It is especially interesting to note a__ Explosions: Ad ro dangerous coincidence when all the killer _* Babst, D. V. and A. Dely, “Nuclear Testing and Vanvan: an 17 earthquakes since 1951 are simply listed Volcanic Activity", Journal of Peace Research, Soloman Is. 298 670 and matched to the dates of nuclear tests. Bt@ndon, Manitoba, Canada, June 1987, pp. 63-69. Fiji, Tonga, Kermadecis.: 2.05 1.59 Table 17 (see page 16), displays the ‘match’ * Bolt, B. A., Nuclear Explosions and Earthquakes: 278 3.88 eves . The Parted Veil, W. H. Freeman, San Francisco, 231 3.88 between nuclear explosions and killer @,_ Usa, 1976. Henadea Ls sae earthquakes. * DahIman, O., et al., "Ground Motion and Papua. New Guinea: 2.22 3.09 Each of the 32 killer earthquakes which Atmospheric Pressure Waves from Nuclear —_ is: ~ struck between 1951 and 1988 caused at Explosions in the Polynesian Test Area Recorded in least 1,000 deaths, with the worst being Sweden, 1970", shy Report, C4461 26, 1971. The continuation of underground nuclear 800,000 killed in the 1976 M8.2 China eanbede td ae peril eae Reign, bomb testing, mainly by the USA, {ex-] earthquake. This China earthquake was the — . Davidson, C. 1, eval, "Redionetive Cosiurs tram USSR and France, should alert certain worst for deaths recorded in this century, the Chernobyl Accident in the Greenland Ice Sheet", areas of the world to note when and where and, coincidentally, the US tested a nuclear Science 237:633-634, 7 August 1987. the tests occur. Table 16 summarises the bomb one day before the earthquake hit. * Fieldhouse, R. W., etal. "Nuclear Explosions”, patterns of earthquakes of M>=5.8 within a Over the 37 years of nuclear testing, 20 of | World Armaments and Disarmament, SIPRI five-day period following nuclear tests at the 32 killer earthquakes, or 62.5%, Yearbook, Oxford Uni. Press, NY, 1987, pp. 45-52. - et + Fuller, J. G., The Day We Bombed , various test sites. occurred on the same day or within four petal peed — Yok Ui A — = days of a nuclear test. The total death toll —» Goldblat, J. and D. Cox, "The Debate About pd i pe a crm i for these 20 killer earthquakes is over one Nuclear Weapon Tests", Occasional Paper No. 5, 1 million people. Table 18 shows the break- Canadian Institute for International Peace and Test Sites (five-day period) down of these 20 killer earthquakes. Security, Ottawa, Canada, 1988. : ns a — = * Harris, D. L., "Effects of Atomic Explosions on the iNevada Semipaia. Zemlya fra, Table 18: Twenty "Killer Earthquakes" Frequency of Tomadoes in the US", Monthly Matched with Nuclear Tests, 1951 to 1988| Weather Review, December 1954, pp. 360-369. a * Kato, Y., "Recent Abnormal Phenomena on Earth Samon Remade’ = 1438 SRI tEat Number of Quakes Days after Nuclear Test and Atomic Power Tests", Pulse of the Planet, Vanuatu: 6.49 6.06 9.30 1(1):5-9, Spring 1989. = = ™ a 1 day tater * “Lightning Increase After Chemobyl", Science lois § = =) a aednpeintar News 312:238, 10 October 1987. Pape, New Guin: my _ = = 4 days later + Lall, R. G. and P. D. Brandes, Banning Nuclear —_ _ = 6.06 5.43 (When two or more nucisar tests occur priorto a killer quake, Tests, Council on Economic Priorities, NY, 1987. al a =e man = ———— * Malcolmson, R. W., Nuclear Fallacies: How We Somipalatinsk: -_ 3.51 _ = Have Been Misguided Since Hiroshima, McGill- — ee = 2 = Is this pure coincidence? - Queen's University Press, Kingston, Ontario, 1985. Santiago, Chile: 2.79 = = = * Matsushita, S., et al., "On the Geomagnetic Effect ae a a Conclusions of the Starfish High Altitude Nuclear Explosion”, J. : : Geophysical Res. 69:917-945, 1964. Some people would question the idea of; McBwaa, A, C.,"Bavironmiental Effects of Two areas show a significant tie to directly linking nuclear testing with the Underground Nuclear Explosions", World nuclear testing, regardless of who tests— pattern of large, powerful earthquakes Armaments and Disarmaments, SIPRI Yearbook notably, the Aleutian Islands chain and the which follow within days of a test. Given 1988, Oxford University Press, NY, 1988, pp.75-91. South Pacific area inclusive of Vanuatu, the large number of such earthquakes per * O'Keefe, B. J., Nuclear Hostages, Houghton the Solomon Islands, Western Samoa and year, and the high number of nuclear tests Ee ee spire nel 1983. puoi the Kermadec Islands. Further, the per year, there might be a chance match oS a ee Tee : P h 4 d th (1947-1951), Wilhelm Reich Foundation, Maine, Japanese islands of Hokkaido, Honshu and _ between any given test and the occurrence gq. 1951 (partly reprinted in W. Reich, Selected Kyushu should note who tests and when. of a large earthquake. Writings, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1960). The island of Mindanao should take some In the 1980s, there were an average of 47» Smith, R. J, “Scientists Implicated in Atom Test precautions when the [ex-]USSR test at tests and 120 earthquakes of M>=6 per Deception", Science 218:545-547, 5 November Novaya Zemlya. For Nevada, it is neces- year. While a chance correlation might 1982; "Atom Tests Leave Infamous Legacy", ‘ ‘ ‘ Science 218:266-269, 15 October 1982. sary not only for them to monitor American appear to be at work, the geographical pat- " ; a ‘ e . ‘ ‘ A * Titus, A. C., Bombs in the Backyard, University of tests, but also Soviet Semipalatinsk tests terns in the data, with a clustering of earth- \)./ada Press, Las Vegas, NV, USA, 1986. including the Urals and Siberia sites. The quakes in specific regions matched to spe- « Trombley, A., “An Interview...", Wildfire, January two most vulnerable areas in the South cific test dates and sites, do not support the —_1988, pp. 17-33. 2.47 3.24 14.86 6.49 8.92 9.09 15.15 6.06 9.09 6.06 243 3.51 1.62 18.18 Two areas show a significant tie to nuclear testing, regardless of who tests— notably, the Aleutian Islands chain and the South Pacific area inclusive of Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, Western Samoa and the Kermadec Islands. Further, the Japanese islands of Hokkaido, Honshu and Kyushu should note who tests and when. The island of Mindanao should take some precautions when the [ex-]USSR test at Novaya Zemlya. For Nevada, it is neces- sary not only for them to monitor American tests, but also Soviet Semipalatinsk tests including the Urals and Siberia sites. The two most vulnerable areas in the South NEXUS ¢ 15 Is this pure coincidence? OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 1995