15 Signs That The Ring Of Fire Is Waking Up As We Head Into 2013Michael Snyder, Contributor But if activity along the Ring of Fire continues to increase, it is inevitable that a major event will happen near a major city at some point. When that happens, the entire world will be focused on the Ring of Fire once again. Approximately 90 percent of all earthquakes and approximately 75 percent of all volcanic eruptions occur along the Ring of Fire. The entire west coast of the United States sits along the Ring of Fire and a massive network of faults runs underneath California, Oregon and Washington. Fortunately, the west coast has not experienced any devastating seismic events in recent years, but scientists assure us that will change at some point. So it is important to sit up and take notice when there are reports of increasing activity. The following is how Wikipediadefines the Ring of Fire It runs roughly along the rim of the Pacific Ocean. Coastal residents of four different continents realize that a major event along the Ring of Fire could fundamentally change their lives in a single moment. The following are 15 signs that the Ring of Fire is waking up as we head into 2013 #1 Mount Lokon, which is located in Indonesia, has erupted more than 800 times since July. On Monday, volcanic ash from the volcano reached heights of up to 10,000 feet. #2 An orange alert had been issued for towns and villages near the Tungurahua volcano in Ecuador. On Tuesday it erupted and shot lava up to a half mile above its crater. #3 Lava is still flowing out of the Tolbachik volcano which is located on the Kamchatka Peninsula. Anyone that has ever played the board game Risk knows where Kamchatka is located. #4 Lava also continues to flow and ash also continues to rise from the Fuego volcano in Guatemala. #5 On Tuesday, an ash plume more than 2.5 kilometers high had risen from the Paluweh volcano in Indonesia. #6 There was an average of about 4 seismic events per hour at the Popocatpetl volcano in Mexico on Tuesday. #7 Scientists recently discovered one of the worlds weirdest volcanoes on the floor of the ocean just off the coast of Baja, Mexico. #8 Mt. Fuji (located not too far from Tokyo, Japan) has been dormant for about 300 years, but in recent months there have been increasing signs of activity there. One study recently found that a magma chamber under the mountain has come under immense pressure, and one prominent scientist is warning that Mt. Fuji is due for a big-scale explosive eruption. Authorities were alarmed when a tunnel leading to Mt. Fuji collapsed on December 2nd, killing 9 people. #9 Scientists are now warning that there is a very dangerous build up of magma at a large number of Japans 110 active volcanoes. #10 A magnitude-6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Sulawesi, Indonesia on Monday. #11 A magnitude-6.0 earthquake hit the New Britain region of Papua New Guinea on Saturday. #12 A magnitude-6.5 earthquake struck the Gulf of Alaska in mid-November. #13 A magnitude-7.3 earthquake hit Japan earlier this month. #14 There has been a substantial increase in earthquake activity in the Long Valley caldera region of California, and authorities tell us that magma is indeed moving down there. #15 Over one recent five week period, more than 170 significant earthquakes were detected in one town in Chile. That town is now being called one of the shakiest places on earth. All of those events occurred along the Ring of Fire. So why is all of this happening? Well, there are certainly a lot of theories out there. In the United States, a large percentage of the population is convinced that an increase in natural disasters is evidence that we are in the last days described in the Bible. In fact, one recent survey found that a whopping 36 percent of all Americans believe that the increase in natural disasters that we have seen in recent years is an indication that we are in the end times Other Americans believe that there are other causes for all of these natural disasters, and a large number of Americans are absolutely convinced that nothing unusual is happening at all. So what do you think? Please feel free to post a comment with your thoughts below This article first appeared here at the American Dream. Michael Snyder is a writer, speaker and activist who writes and edits his own blogs The American Dream and Economic Collapse Blog. Follow him on Twitter here. 