Ireland On Not So Shaky Ground

Ireland's experiences with earthquakes have not been all that exciting.  Ireland has fault lines but none of the major fault lines are at the edge of the tectonic plates.  Furthermore, the fault lines Ireland does have are not very active to begin with.  So, the earthquakes Ireland experiences generally leave the country unharmed by the minor shifting of the crust.  Ireland has the Irish National Seismic Network (INSN) and its six locations to record seismic activity.  The six stations include; DSB located in Dublin, VAL located in the island of Valentia, IGLA located in Galway, IDGLA located in the town of Donegal, IWEX located in Wexford, and ILTH located in the county of Louth.  The INSN is operated by the Geophysics Section of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS).

Seismicity in Ireland and also around the country is relatively low.  Yes, Ireland has experienced 80 earthquakes in the last 30 years but they've all been very minor.  Some of this earthquakes were hardly noticeable to the people.  It wasn't until recently, that Ireland was more often considered aseismic, meaning, not characterized by earthquake activity.  For the Irish people, experiencing largely noticeable seismic activity is relatively rare.

The image above is on the funnier side of the reaction of the Irish when they have earthquakes because the last really sever one was in 1984 with a magnitude of 5.4 which shook buildings.  The damage it caused was some cracks in buildings or fallen chimneys.  So, overall Ireland has a low seismicity even though they have had their share of earthquakes.

As far as prevention systems or preparedness for earthquakes, Ireland does not seem to have very many out there.  I've looked for some and the most I could find are websites to take classes on how to prepare for disasters and other survival websites.  Given how many earthquakes they have experienced, one would think they would have more warning systems or prevention tactics.  Not in this case! If anything, different counties or cities will have their own local prevention systems.  Overall, the earthquakes are so minor since 1984, they don't seem so worried to reinforce buildings, set up warning systems, etc..  I'm hoping probably along side the Irish people, that it remains this way and Ireland continues to be a beautiful and calm island.

Sources:

https://www.dias.ie/cp/astro/geo-seismic-network/

https://www.insn.ie

http://geoscience.lyit.ie/geology/seismicity-ireland.html

http://www.newstalk.com/Ireland-on-shaky-ground-with-earthquakes-and-tsunamis-

http://www.survivalistireland.com

Keller, Edward A., Duane E. DeVecchio, and Robert H. Blodget. Natural Hazards: Earth's Processes as Hazards, Disasters, and Catastrophes. Boston: Pearson, 2015. Print.