The most surprising thing I heard from Brendan Meade was that over 2 billion people live within 250 Kilometers of an earthquake fault. Normally I think of only a small margin of the population being affected by earthquakes, such as those living in California. I was surprised that roughly a quarter of the population lives close to a fault, and thus has the potential of being affected by earthquakes. I wonder the severity of these faults and if they all have serious risks and dangers, or if some of them pose no threat and only are prone to small earthquakes that can't be felt. Also, I wonder how much an earthquake would affect someone who lives 250 miles away from the fault. Even if the earthquake is large, would 250 miles be a great enough distance to lessen the effects of the earthquake and minimize damage?
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I was also surprised by this fact. I think there is a lack of awareness about earthquakes since they are infrequent. I would assume that someone further away from the epicenter is affected less by the earthquake than someone closer. Also, the 250 mile mark is wholly dependent on the magnitude of the earthquake. In addition to your questions, I would add whether it is easier to predict earthquakes that will be more severe.