The human costs for such tragic events as the recent quakes in Haiti and Chile are incalculable. There is so much suffering, it is difficult for many of us to comprehend. (I was taken aback a few days ago to recognize my relief at early stories placing the Chilean death toll in the 700’s. Tragically, that number will surely rise. But what a strange thing “perspective” is, isn’t it? When contrasted with the massive human toll in Haiti, Chile seems almost an afterthought.)
Interestingly, quakes such as these don’t only affect the lives and futures of those in the target countries themselves. In fact, NASA says we’re all affected by them — and in ways that are more quantifiable than one might suspect:
JPL research scientist Richard Gross computed how Earth’s rotation should have changed as a result of the Feb. 27 quake. Using a complex model, he and fellow scientists came up with a preliminary calculation that the quake should have shortened the length of an Earth day by about 1.26 microseconds (a microsecond is one millionth of a second).
Orthodox. Faithful. Free.
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Perhaps more impressive is how much the quake shifted Earth’s axis. Gross calculates the quake should have moved Earth’s figure axis (the axis about which Earth’s mass is balanced) by 2.7 milliarcseconds (about 8 centimeters, or 3 inches). Earth’s figure axis is not the same as its north-south axis; they are offset by about 10 meters (about 33 feet).
While steering away from the potentially diluting “interconnectivity” and “circle of life” language, I’m still fascinated by the fact that none of us can really say that the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile didn’t have an impact on us. When something of that magnitude occurs, there’s something comforting about the way the world takes notice, no matter how hard it is to get “the World’s” attention.