심상찮은 '불의 고리' 초강력 지진 전조 우려 <br />Four powerful earthquakes struck different parts of the world last week -- Japan, Ecuador and Tonga. <br />While they are all thousands of kilometers apart,... one things connects them: the Ring of Fire. <br />Lee Ji-won reports. <br />Japan is facing the daunting task of cleaning up after two powerful earthquakes hit its southern island of Kyushu in little more than 24 hours late last week. <br />Roughly a day later, a seven-point-eight magnitude quake struck Ecuador. <br />And on Sunday, Tonga, an island state in the southern Pacific Ocean was hit with a six-point-one magnitude earthquake. <br />All the affected places are within the so-called 'Ring of Fire', an area where frequent volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur in the Pacific Ocean. <br />About 90-percent of earthquakes occur in this region and about 75-percent of active volcanoes are located along the Ring of Fire. <br />The Ring of Fire is a result of the movement and collision of tectonic plates that make up the Earth's crust. <br />And at a subduction zone, where the heavier plate slips under the lighter plate, trenches are formed... sometimes developing into volcanoes. <br />When the crust underground suddenly breaks due to pressure, earthquakes are caused. <br />And seeing how four earthquakes have hit different parts of the world in the past few days, experts are concerned an even stronger earthquake may be on the way.
