Did you ever know that the earth can also move and come alive? Well the cause of it develops when tectonic plates shift and slide under one of each other in the Earth’s crust. Some plates slide past each other while some move apart. Whenever these plates move along faults, stress builds up and gives a sudden release of energy that creates seismic waves. The waves then spread out and create what is called, an earthquake.
Hundreds of earthquakes happen every day around the world. The reason why you don’t feel most of them is because it is too small or sensitive to be noticed. More than 1, 000, 000 tremors rattle each year but only about 100, 000 can be really felt. Fortunately, the bigger earthquakes that you can feel happen less frequently and often occur away from inhabited areas.
When some deadly earthquakes hit populated areas, the aftermath is a lot of widespread damage. They can get as bad as what hit Chile in 1960. The largest earthquake ever recorded, measured to 9.5 magnitudes. The Great San Francisco earthquake was a big topic in 1906. It measured 8.2 magnitudes on the Richter Scale and triggered fires throughout the city, destroying most of downtown. The most property damaged earthquake happened just last year in Japan. It was measured to 9.0 magnitudes; however the cost of rebuilding was $122 billion. Those are some of the historic accounts.
Earthquakes kill a lot. The reason why people die from it is because of the buildings. If you live in a downtown area and the ground suddenly starts to