Why is it in the News?

Nine people died and more than 1,000 were injured in Taiwan after the island was hit by its biggest earthquake in at least 25 years on Wednesday (April 4) morning.

What is the Ring of Fire?

• The Ring of Fire is essentially a string of hundreds of volcanoes and earthquake sites that run along the Pacific Ocean.
• It is a semicircle or horseshoe in shape and stretches nearly 40,250 kilometers.
• The Ring of Fire traces the meeting points of numerous tectonic plates, including the Eurasian, North American, Juan de Fuca, Cocos, Caribbean, Nazca, Antarctic, Indian, Australian, Philippine, and other smaller plates, which all encircle the large Pacific Plate, according to a report by National Geographic.
• It runs through 15 more countries including the USA, Indonesia, Mexico, Japan, Canada, Guatemala, Russia, Chile, Peru, and the Philippines.

Why is the Ring of Fire Vulnerable to Earthquakes?

• The Ring of Fire witnesses so many earthquakes due to constant sliding past, colliding into or moving above or below each other of the tectonic plates.
• As the edges of these plates are quite rough, they get stuck with one another while the rest of the plate keeps moving.
• An earthquake occurs when the plate has moved far enough and the edges unstick on one of the faults.

Why are There so Many Volcanoes in the Ring of Fire?

• The existence of volcanoes in the Ring of Fire is also due to the movement of tectonic plates.
• Many of the volcanoes have been formed through a process known as subduction.
• It takes place when two plates collide with each other and the heavier plate is shoved under each other, creating a deep trench.
• “When a ‘downgoing’ oceanic plate [like the Pacific Plate] is shoved into a hotter mantle plate, it heats, volatile elements mix, and this produces the magma.
• The magma then rises through the overlying plate and spurts out at the surface,” which leads to the formation of volcanoes, according to a report by DW.
• Most of the subduction zones on the planet are located in the Ring of Fire and that’s why it hosts a large number of volcanoes.

Why is Taiwan so Exposed to Earthquakes?

• Taiwan lies along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” the line of seismic faults encircling the Pacific Ocean where most of the world’s earthquakes occur.
• The area is particularly vulnerable to temblors due to the tension accumulated from the interactions of two tectonic plates, the Philippine Sea Plate and the Eurasian Plate, which may lead to sudden releases in the form of earthquakes.
• The region’s mountainous landscape can magnify the ground shaking, leading to landslides.