There have been six large earthquakes so far in 2010, including Haiti, Chile, last week's 7.7 magnitude quake off Sumatra, and Tuesday's devastating quake in western China. Seems like a lot, no?

Since 1900, the average number of large earthquakes per year is 16, which supposedly puts us on track for a normal year. The Mercury News talks to USGS seismologist Tom Parsons, who says that not only is this an average year thus far, but a new unpublished study suggests that large earthquakes don't trigger other large earthquakes.

"A lot of the quakes this year have unfortunately happened in populated areas, and as a result casualties and damage are in the news," Parsons says. "The variability year to year is very large, but the rate this year is not higher than normal."

Terrific. We still say get your kits ready.

Photo: AP, from the January quake in Haiti.