Petra,

Thanks for this info. It is very reassuring and should make us all feel better. Very rarely are the true numbers of people who die from earthquakes annually released. So instead, we must live with a very presumptuous media always warning of the "big one" and generally just trying to scare the masses. When you hear enough of this, people begin to believe that quakes just may be an epidemic and that sooner or later we are all going to die. Personally, I've had no clue how many died in the past year, but after reading your post, I feel much better and informed! I don't know why, but I always thought the number was more like over a million! How stupid.

Even though the article said this year was higher than normal, so many more people in the US alone will die from Aids, car accidents and Cancer.

Todd