Scientists who have been collecting data for the San Andreas fault line for over two decades noticed that after the Sumatra earthquake in 2004 (the one that triggered the tsunami) the San Andreas fault has weakened. When a fault line weakens, it has more frequent earthquakes, but the earthquakes are of a much lower magnitude. When it weakens, "you only have to push a little bit and the fault fails", says Dr. Taira from Washington DC's Carnegie Institution. So, earthquakes on one side of the world are affected by the strength of earthquakes on the other side of the world. Apparently, this pattern can help predict future earthquakes.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8283873.stm
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