North Korea's nuclear test triggered years of earthquakes, and the debate is whether that's good or bad
North Korean nuclear test sets off years of earthquakes
A Hacker News discussion explores whether North Korea's nuclear test, which set off years of small earthquakes, might actually reduce seismic risk by releasing energy gradually. Commenters debate the logarithmic energy scale, noting that 30,000 magnitude-3 quakes equal one magnitude-7, and warn that the test could instead trigger a larger quake. The thread also touches on firefighting analogies and the difficulty of attributing damage to intentional acts.
It's logarithmic so you'd need more like 30,000 magnitude 3 earthquakes to equal the energy of a magnitude 7. I don't think it's clear this is better. You can also make the argument that this may trigger the large earthquake that might not have happened for a long time.