Kalistani Major History

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Substantial Earthquake strikes north of Dahriel
Ananto "overdue" for large earthquake, said seismologists
Dahriel, Grand Duchy of Ananto
May 1, 5519


Evidence of a 6.0+ earthquake that rocked the Gold Plain north of Dahriel

Kalistan has not suffered a catastrophic earthquake since the one that destroyed Kaliburg in 4892. But seismologists based at Kaliburg Polytechnic University said that Ananto is entering a period of increasing seismic activity, and the Island is "overdue" for a large earthquake.

"Preliminary signs of stress in the deeper layers of the crust show that something is going on down there that should have resulted in a major quake by now," said Dr. Brent Vacay, Field Geologist on staff at Polytechnic. "Ananto is essentially a great big dormant volcano, and there are a bunch of old fissures and cracks that can lie silent for centuries and then suddenly begin filling up with magma, which expands and pushes chunks of the earth into one another. Or there might be a great collection of gasses down there and the pressure just builds up until something gives way. That was what happened in Kaliburg in 600 years ago, and our tests demonstrate that something like that is in the making under the Green Mountains right now."

These volcanic forces usually benefit the Island: A majority of Ananto's Power is derived from geothermal energy generated at or near various hotspots in the center of the Island. But occasionally, the Island turns violent: The aftermath of the 4896 Kaliburg quake Killed nearly 7000 residents of the Capital including the Premier of the Republic Marguerite Beloit, and utterly destroyed about 10 percent of the city. "That was the first real serious earthquake that Ananto suffered during the modern era," said Vacay: other quakes have either been in very remote areas in the Green Mountains, or at sea." "But Davon Bay is itself the eroded remnant of a great fissure that opened up during a period of intense volcanic activity about 10,000 years ago."

Vacay noted that heavy seismic activity usually works through cycles, of increased activity about every 500 years. "By those calculations, we're about 100 years over due for another fairly major quake here on the Island," warned Dr Vacay. "There is a very low chance that another earthquake will strike Kaliburg, and given the lack of density of population on the vast majority of the Island, with the entire population living in cities, most people will not even notice a major quake if it happened. But we're pretty sure one will happen, probably within our lifetime, and it will be pretty big." Vacay said Ananto is riven with criscrossing fault lines, but there seems to be more stress in the Green Mountains than in the Davon Mountains which would affect the capital or Dulnerstaad or the Xandau Mountains that would affect Dahriel or Luxon.

"This most recent quake was south of the Green Mountains in the foothills north of Dahriel," said Dr. Vacay. "It measures 6.2 and generally affected mostly agricultural land. Here the soil is pushed up, you see?" he said pointing at what appears to be a few parallel ridges of fresh soil stretching about 400 feet along the edge of a Gold Plain vineyard. "This is a new fault line that we have not been monitoring, and is the result of volcanic gas pressure. About a half mile south of here we found a vent which had recently vented Sulphur and steam. The vent was a crack in the rock about 8 feet wide, and we think the pressure under this ground pushed up about 1 mile and a half of earth two feet up here, looking for a vent before it finally found one." The quake happened in a very remote area and nobody was injured.

"This is probably just the start of a bumpy period," said Vacay. "But who knows when or where the next one will hit. This little quake was a warning, and we are going to be monitoring this area going forth, hoping we get enough data to perhaps forecast where the big quake may hit, and if its near a population center, like Dahriel or Bozo, we can get them warned in time before anyone gets hurt. But there is no evidence that it's gonna happen tonight or tomorrow. We just need to be paying attention now, because it could really happen today or in 50 years. Geological time works different: in a geological sense, it's imminent. But it is more likely that nobody alive today will ever experience it."