8.0 quake strikes Alaska, 2 large quakes hit New Zealand

USGS screen shot, page of recent quakes this week:

This is the second 8.0+ quake this year. A 8.2 quake hit Chile on April 1, 2014. Typically in a year the average number of 8.0-plus quakes is 1.

This is the 72nd 6.0-6.9 magnitude quake this year. The annual average number of magnitude 6 quakes in a year is 134.

A Tsunami warning has been issued for the Aleutian Islands, but hopefully it will expire without a tsunami materializing. There have been no immediate reports of damage.

As for the New Zealand quakes, we have this report from down under-

Pacific Ring fires up

A magnitude-8 earthquake has struck in the northern Pacific but is not linked to this morning's 7.2 quake closer to New Zealand, GeoNet says. The North Pacific quake was off the coast of the Rat Islands, about 2000 kilometres west of the Alaskan peninsula at 8.53am (NZ time). It was initially recorded as a magnitude 7.2 quake but this was revised to magnitude 8 a short time later. It was at a depth of 114km. A tsunami warning was issued for coastal areas of Alaska. It followed a 7.2 earthquake south of Raoul Island at 7.19am, which DOC staff on the island described as a "rocking good time". That quake was initially reported to be 5km deep, but was revised to 30km. Raoul Island is part of the Kermadec Island group, about 1100km northeast of New Zealand. GeoNet duty seismologist Caroline Holden said the timing of the quakes was interesting but there was nothing to relate them other than both occurred in the Ring of Fire

You have made the land to quake; you have torn it open; repair its breaches, for it totters  (Psalm 60:2)