can trigger other seismic activity , but added that those four aforementioned events were too far apart in both time and distance to be connected . • The U.S. Geological Survey on its Web site takes on the assertion that two major earthquakes in the same day must be related . Their answer : not likely . This is because Earth 's surface is not rigid enough to transfer the stress over long distances . `` There is evidence to suggest that earthquakes in one area can trigger seismic activity within a few hundred miles , '' they write . `` There is also evidence that some major earthquakes manage to trigger seismicity over much greater distances -LRB- thousands of miles -RRB- , but these triggered quakes are small and very short lived . '' • The USGS estimates there are several million earthquakes each year and the National Earthquake Information Center locates about 50 quakes per day . However , large quakes measuring 8.0 and higher occur only about once a year on average . Bottom Line : While earthquakes can , and do , trigger other seismic events , the recent earthquakes in Haiti , Chile , Japan
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- On January 12 , a magnitude-7 .0 quake struck Haiti just southwest of the capital , Port-au-Prince . On February 27 , an 8.8-magnitude quake hit Chile near that nation 's second largest city , Concepcion . That same day there was a 7.0 quake off the coast of Okinawa , Japan , and just this week a 6.4 quake hit southern Taiwan . The Fact Check Desk looked at whether all of the seismic activity could be related . Fact Check : Is there any connection between the recent deadly earthquakes ? • Dr. Kurt Frankel of the Georgia Institute of Technology , who specializes in active tectonics , says that earthquakes are sporadic and unpredictable in nature . • According to Frankel , the fact that these relatively strong quakes would strike around the same time is merely coincidence . Because the quakes did happen one after another , earthquakes are on people 's mind , Frankel explained . `` Had the quakes in Haiti and Chile not occurred recently , we might not have even been interested in the other quakes , '' he said . • CNN meteorologist Chad Myers said earthquakes