Lunar eclipse yesterday, earthquake today: Could there be a connection?

New Delhi, Nov 09: A day after the world witnessed a lunar eclipse, a 6.3-magnitude earthquake jolted the lower Himalayan region on Wednesday, killing at least nine people. It led to tremors rippling across north India and parts of Nepal and jolting people out of their sleep.

Eclipse and Natural Calamities
Religions across the globe have always talked about eclipses having links with earthquakes or natural calamities. It has been widely believed that dreadful events occur because of eclipses. When the Sun or the Moon was not suddenly visible in the sky, there was a turmoil in the societies and any natural tragedies occur thereafter was linked to the eclipse So, is there is a connection between Lunar eclipse and earthquakes? Or eclipse with natural calamities?

Let's begin with what is eclipse. According to the NASA, an eclipse occurs when one heavenly body such as a moon or planet moves into the shadow of another heavenly body.

The Moon moves in an orbit around Earth. At the same time, Earth orbits the Sun. Sometimes Earth moves between the Sun and the Moon. When this happens, Earth blocks the sunlight that normally is reflected by the Moon. (This sunlight is what causes the Moon to shine.)

Instead of light hitting the Moon's surface, Earth's shadow falls on the Moon. This is an eclipse of the Moon, or a lunar eclipse. A lunar eclipse can occur only when the Moon is full, the space agency defines the Lunar eclipse.

What is an Earthquake?
The intense shaking of Earth's surface is called as an earthquake. It is the sudden movement of Earth's crust at a fault line. The shaking is caused by movements in Earth's outermost layer. Although the Earth looks like a pretty solid place from the surface, it's actually extremely active just below the surface.

For centuries, it was believed that the gravitational stress by the moon would be responsible for earthquakes because of causing a tidal deformation of Earth's crust. People who claim that there is a connection between eclipses and earthquakes have stated that the Moon's gravity affects Earth.

This belief gains credence when we look at natural calamities that have hit across the world. For instance, Gujarat was jolted with a 7.9-magnitude earthquake in 2001 and in the same month there was a total lunar eclipse visible in parts of Earth, according to a Times Now report.

"Several recent studies have found a correlation between earth tides (caused by the position of the Moon relative to the Earth) and some types of earthquakes. One study, for example, concludes that during times of higher earth and ocean tides, such as during times of full or new moon, earthquakes are more likely on shallow thrust faults near the edges of continents and in (underwater) subduction zones.

Lunar or solar eclipses represent, of course, special cases of full and new moon, but do not cause any special or different tidal effects from full and new moon," the United States Geological Survey said about the co-relation.

Co-relation
According to a study by Mitch Battors, lunar phases triggered almost 21 earthquakes out of which at least 14 were said to be caused during quarter phase, five at the full moon, and two followed an eclipse.

"There have also been some small but significant correlations reported between the semi-diurnal tides and the rate of occurrence of aftershocks in some volcanic regions, such as Mammoth Lakes," the United States Geological Survey said in a report.

At the same time, several studies have reported no correlation between the eclipse and earthquake and scientists have been telling for decades that there are no evidence to this connection.

"The gravitational attraction of the moon is rather small on terrestrial rocks, and the correlation between earthquakes and tides remains unproven. Such arguments will hold for the Galilean satellites of Jupiter and Enceladus of Saturn, but not for the Earth.

Aside from tides, the hypothesis about a correlation of eclipses and earthquakes persists to this day. If the position of our moon should ever turn out significant, then the connection with an eclipse would be irrelevant, meaning: the earthquake will happen without the obscuration of celestial bodies," a 2021 study in Germany states.

Further, the study highlights how astrologers used this natural occurrence for their advantage. "In old times, eclipses were considered as dreadful events. When the most important luminary in the sky suddenly failed to shine, dramatic turmoils were going on and a whole society became upset.

The scene of unexpected darkness remained in memory for many years. An earthquake, however, costs many people their lives and destroyed entire villages. If both calamities were to take place in temporal proximity, the tragedy was associated with a "punishment announced by the gods". The fate from celestial prophecies became manifested hereinafter. For astrologers this was a welcome sign of validation of their doctrine.

They cling more than ever to the putative connection. The scribes would transmit that with some decoration to raise the effect or to make their account more important. Thus, many reports on the proximity of both disasters pile up because of psychological selection effects than reality. Sooner or later there will be another earthquake close to an eclipse, and the self-proclaimed prophets will have their joy," it added.

Conclusion
Although it looks like it has co-relation, scientists have rejected this theory that a lunar eclipse can trigger an earthquake. The Earth has about ten earthquakes of greater than magnitude 5 every day, according to Gerard Fryer from the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology. Hence, there cannot be a link between earthquakes and lunar eclipses.