Don’t read too much into earthquakes and eclipses

I have experienced an earthquake and aftershocks and survived. It was a relatively mild shaking. At the time I thought it was just a train rumbling by.

The quake happened in 1982 in New Brunswick. It had a magnitude of 5.7 and was followed by several aftershocks. Fortunately, there was little damage. The quake event was in an isolated, unusual location but allowed scientists a good window in understanding a rare phenomenon.

If you look at an earthquake map of Canada, most quakes happen in the west, along the Pacific coast and in the St. Lawrence River valley. In the recent past, one of the worst was in 1944 in Cornwall, Ont. In that 5.8 quake, a wall of the local high school collapsed into the gym, 2,000 city chimneys were damaged and the steeple on a church was heavily damaged.

While we are relatively safe from earthquakes here in Grey Bruce, they are not unknown. Quake tracking web sites say based on data from the past 54 years and an earthquake archive back to 1900, there are about 4.8 quakes, none severe, on average per year near Meaford. Larger quakes with magnitudes above 3 might occur from time to time. However, Meaford has had at least one quake above magnitude 4 since 1970, which suggests that

larger earthquakes of this size occur infrequently, probably on average approximately every 50 to 55 years.

All this thought came after the recent earthquake in New Jersey.

Of course, U.S. news networks were all over the event. There were on the spot interviews, videos of animals shocked out of a comfortable nap and security footage showing the shaking of furniture and buildings. It appears the quake had a magnitude of 4.8. There were no casualties and no damage.

Earthquakes have a role in Christian scripture as signs of the second coming of Jesus. Luke 21:11 is a good example. The text says, “... there will be great earthquakes and in various places famines and plagues, and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.”

However, that passage must be treated with care.

In 1844, The Great Disappointment was the reaction that

followed U.S. Baptist preacher William Miller’s proclamation that Jesus Christ would return to the Earth. While the prediction was wrong, the explanations of the failure of Miller’s prediction survived his movement and can be found today in the teachings of a number of denominations and even other modern faith communities.

One of the more entertaining responses in social media connected the earthquake it to the solar eclipse which happened the following Monday. One of my colleagues posted, “With the earthquake in New Jersey today and the eclipse on Monday, there will be a Rapture practice session at church on Sunday. Be ready.”

The replies which followed were entertaining.

One person said, “Sorry. Won’t be there. Don’t need any practice.” They were referring to the words of Jesus that no one will know the time or place of his coming.

Another said, “It’s just practising for Pride Month in June. We gotta keep y’all on your toes!!”

Another said, “Don’t tell him about the plague of locusts!”

That was quickly rebutted with “Nope!! We’re saving that as a big surprise for June!!”

An American friend posted, “You have to wait ‘til the Super Cicada hatch comes this summer!”

No one seemed to recognize that the epicentre of the earthquake was only a few miles from a certain golf course owned by a certain presidential candidate at Bedminster, New Jersey. Now that might really have been a sign from above.

Earthquakes may startle us, but science helps us understand them. The same is true of an eclipse. Their utility as predictor of the future is remote, at best. All we can do is be ready for whatever we might experience.