Hi Don. Some of the points you raise are very interesting. If I remember correctly, the Explorer Plate has rotated and is no longer subducting which is what explains the lack of active volcanism in that part of Canada. It looks like this recent swarm of quakes is occuring along the Nootka Fracture Zone between the Explorer section of the plate and the Juan de Fuca? All of these plates were once part of the Farallon plate. The middle section of the Farallon plate completely subducted beneath the North American Plate which is what formed the San Andreas right? I guess I'm just thinking out loud here. So the northern sections of this plate form the Juan de Fuca and the southern sections form the Rivera platelet south of Baja, CA, the Cocos plate to the west of Central America and the Nazca plate west of South America. It would seem to me that alot of significant events this year have occurred on these plates unless I'm mistaken which is highly possible. The 7.7 in El Salvador on 1/13/01, 6.6 in El Salvador on 2/13/01 (I guess this was an aftershock), the 8.4 along the coast of Peru on 6/23/01, and the 6.8 Nisqually quake on 2/28/01. If the Juan de Fuca plate were starting to rotate, would this lead to another giant megathrust off the coast of the U.S.? If the Juan de Fuca and Explorer plates are moving in opposing directions, what would the end result be? It certainly gets the wheels in the mind moving. I suppose the best thing you can do as always is hope for the best and be prepared for the worst. I suppose that we will just have to put our feet up as you say and wait to see what happens :-)