[djf]

7.0’s are not all that exceptional (unless you’re IN ONE!), there are probably hundreds of those around the globe per year. But this is ring-of-fire territory, and given what happened in Japan, it’s probably newsworthy...

[dfwgator]

But this is ring-of-fire territory

And it burns, burns, burns....

[bkepley]

Not hundreds above 7.0, more like 15. Hundreds above 6, thousands above 5.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqarchives/year/eqstats.php