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North Korean nuclear test sets off years of earthquakes

225 points · 181 comments · rbanffy

  1. BigTTYGothGF · · focus · HN ↗
    There's a lot of people in this thread who see "North Korea" and "nuclear test" and get fired up but would otherwise shrug if it were instead, say, "Oklahoma" and "fracking".

    The supplemental information is available and says: > Our earthquake catalog consists primarily of small events with magnitudes of < 2.0 and there were 1399 of them.

    The cited Ren&al says: > The magnitudes of these seismic events primarily range from 1.5 to 2.5 and that there were 647 of them.

    USGS (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.usgs.gov&#x2F;media&#x2F;images&#x2F;earthquake-and-energy-comparisons-updated-2025" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.usgs.gov&#x2F;media&#x2F;images&#x2F;earthquake-and-energy-comp...) says that a magnitude 2.0 earthquake is the equivalent energy of 56kg of explosives, which is more than I&#x27;d want to be around but I think for people who actually use the stuff it&#x27;s not a lot.

    1. floralhangnail · · focus · HN ↗
      Oklahoma hasn&#x27;t threatened to nuke anyone.....yet.
      1. QuercusMax · · focus · HN ↗
        But they did bomb their own people in the Tulsa Race Massacre
        1. kfkdmdndndn · · focus · HN ↗

          [dead]

          1. phoghed · · focus · HN ↗
            fresh account just for this bitchmade comment lmao. close call, I almost engaged with it earnestly
            1. QuercusMax · · focus · HN ↗
              Lol, also the only use of nuclear weapons in war was over 80 years ago, so I&#x27;m not sure what their point even is aside from being a moronic racist
        2. nkingsy · · focus · HN ↗
          nono the state is the only thing that counts. Not the country the state is in or the cities in the state.
      2. throe844949 · · focus · HN ↗
        Oklahoma is part of US, and there were several threats! Just a few months ago against Iran!
      3. tecleandor · · focus · HN ↗
        Not Oklahoma but Trump has made nuclear threats from Maryland this summer...
      4. NikolaNovak · · focus · HN ↗
        (Not to be contrarian, but I rather thought usa has recently and repeatedly threatened to bomb and nuke countries into stone age... And in fact went significant way through that effort over last few months, to the tune of some $40bil or so, for no clear, consistent, rational, elucidated reason whatsoever. And of course, rather famously, is the only country that actually deployed nuclear weapons against other people).

        I don&#x27;t necessarily disagree with your underlying point mind you, but USA isn&#x27;t what it used to be internationally, if it ever truly was. &quot;Oklahoma &#x2F; USA are peaceful, predictable. rational political entities&quot; is a rather laughable point to try to make today :-&#x2F;

      5. mathgeek · · focus · HN ↗
        Technically, Oklahoma is on the short list of locations that _have_ detonated a nuclear bomb on their enemies in wartime.
      6. killingtime74 · · focus · HN ↗
        Isn&#x27;t the US literally the only country to ever use a nuke against humans?
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