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Yes. Human activity can cause, or at least trigger, earthquakes in an otherwise earthquake-prone region.

Underground mining, such as that done in coal mining, can trigger earthquakes. The very action of extracting coal and fluid can cause stress on the earth.

Instability due to excavation during construction of major engineering projects (e.g. dams) can also be a man-made trigger for earthquakes.

A 1961 study by scientists suggested that earthquakes could be caused by injecting fluid waste into the earth's crust under high pressure.

Extracting natural gas from the earth can trigger seismic activity. Drilling and fracking (which means using pressurised fluid to fracture rocks, thus releasing natural gas or coal seam gas) has links to earthquake activity.

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13y ago

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