Obviously Pakistan 10/8 is a 'where and when.' I wouldn't have thought that area would be on our watch. Based on the alignment, it looks like our focus is on the US, but ya never know. Whomever might be working that area should not feel they've failed. For all we know, the 7.6 mag followed by more than a dozen 5.0+ could have been a series of 9.0 or higher quakes.

I don't think this is the whole shakeup, even if all the external stress factors suddenly disappeared. Pakistan's experience may cause ripples to other tectonic plates. And of course, the other stress factors have not disappeared. We still have all those asteroids on a driveby.

One silver lining is that the Pakistan quakes were/are shallow. That's terrible for those people because surface quakes do more damage in the immediate area. But, it's better for the rest of the world because shallower quakes don't send shockwaves out with as much power as deep quakes. So, the ripples shouldn't be as strong. That may be an effect of the 'work' there too, greater good and all that.

It is additionally possible that the epicenter was 'moved.' Imagine if this had occurred in the Arabian Sea, then there might have been tsunami effects too, impacting even more countries and more people. Or imagine if the epicenter had been a bit east, in the heart of India (pop. 1 billion vs Pakistan pop. about a million and a half).

Watching to see what else may unfold.
10/10, 10:10am PT looms, Columbus Day, Columbia River, Juan de Fuca release, tsunamis, Mount St Helens release, Cascades rumble

You know, come to think of it... moving a thing like that, dampening it, and bringing it closer to the surface... well, that would take an awful lot of energy. Would be a great way to spend some of the excess from the Pacific Northwest though, eh?