Earthquake

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earthquake, trembling or shaking movement of the earth's surface. Most earthquakes are
minor tremors. Larger earthquakes usually begin with slight tremors but rapidly take the
form of one or more violent shocks, and end in vibrations of gradually diminishing force
called aftershocks. The subterranean point of origin of an earthquake is called its focus;
the point on the surface directly above the focus is the epicenter. The magnitude and
intensity of an earthquake is determined by the use of scales, e.g., the Richter scale and
the Mercalli scale.

Causes of Earthquakes
Most earthquakes are causally related to compressional or tensional stresses built up at
the margins of the huge moving lithospheric plates that make up the earth's surface (see
lithosphere). The immediate cause of most shallow earthquakes is the sudden release of
stress along a fault, or fracture in the earth's crust, resulting in movement of the opposing
blocks of rock past one another. These movements cause vibrations to pass through and
around the earth in wave form, just as ripples are generated when a pebble is dropped into
water. Volcanic eruptions, rockfalls, landslides, and explosions can also cause a quake,
but most of these are of only local extent. Shock waves from a powerful earthquake can
trigger smaller earthquakes in a distant location hundreds of miles away if the geologic
conditions are favorable.

See also plate tectonics.

Seismic Waves
There are several types of earthquake waves including P, or primary, waves, which are
compressional and travel fastest; and S, or secondary, waves, which are transverse, i.e.,
they cause the earth to vibrate perpendicularly to the direction of their motion. Surface
waves consist of several major types and are called L, or long, waves. Since the velocities
of the P and S waves are affected by changes in the density and rigidity of the material
through which they pass, the boundaries between the regions of the earth known as the
crust, mantle, and core have been discerned by seismologists, scientists who deal with the
analysis and interpretation of earthquake waves (see earth). Seismographs (see
seismology) are used to record P, S, and L waves. The disappearance of S waves below
depths of 1,800 mi (2,900 km) indicates that at least the outer part of the earth's core is
liquid.

Damage Caused by Earthquakes

The effects of an earthquake are strongest in a broad zone surrounding the epicenter.
Surface ground cracking associated with faults that reach the surface often occurs, with
horizontal and vertical displacements of several yards common. Such movement does not
have to occur during a major earthquake; slight periodic movements called fault creep
can be accompanied by microearthquakes too small to be felt. The extent of earthquake
vibration and subsequent damage to a region is partly dependent on characteristics of the
ground. For example, earthquake vibrations last longer and are of greater wave
amplitudes in unconsolidated surface material, such as poorly compacted fill or river
deposits; bedrock areas receive fewer effects. The worst damage occurs in densely
populated urban areas where structures are not built to withstand intense shaking. There,
L waves can produce destructive vibrations in buildings and break water and gas lines,
starting uncontrollable fires.

Damage and loss of life sustained during an earthquake result from falling structures and
flying glass and objects. Flexible structures built on bedrock are generally more resistant
to earthquake damage than rigid structures built on loose soil. In certain areas, an
earthquake can trigger mudslides, which slip down mountain slopes and can bury
habitations below. A submarine earthquake can cause a tsunami, a series of damaging
waves that ripple outward from the earthquake epicenter and inundate coastal cities.

Major Earthquakes
On average about 1,000 earthquakes with intensities of 5.0 or greater are recorded each
year. Great earthquakes (intensity 8.0 or higher) occur once a year, major earthquakes
(intensity 7.0-7.9) occur 18 times a year, strong earthquakes (intensity 6.0-6.9) 10 times a
month, and moderate earthquakes (intensity 5.0-5.9) more than twice a day. Because most
of these occur under the ocean or in underpopulated areas, they pass unnoticed by all but
seismologists. Notable earthquakes have occurred at Lisbon, Portugal (1755); New
Madrid, Mo. (1811 and 1812); Charleston, S.C. (1886); Assam, India (1897 and 1950);
San Francisco (1906); Messina, Italy (1908); Gansu, China (1920); Tokyo, Japan (1923);
Chile (1960); Iran (1962); Managua, Nicaragua (1972); Guatemala (1976); Hebei, China
(1976); Mexico (1985); Armenia (1988); Luzon, Philippines (1990); N Japan (1993);
Kobe, Japan (1995); Izmit, Turkey (1999); central Taiwan (1999); Oaxaca state, Mexico
(1999); Bam, Iran (2003); and NW Sumatra, Indonesia (2004). The Lisbon, Chilean, and
Sumatran earthquakes were accompanied by tsunamis. On Good Friday 1964, one of the
most severe North American earthquakes ever recorded struck Alaska, measuring 8.4 to
8.6 in intensity. Besides elevating some 70,000 sq mi (181,300 sq km) of land and
devastating several cities, it generated a tsunami that caused damage as far south as
California.

Ten of the fifteen largest earthquakes in the United States have occurred in Alaska, and
eight of the fifteen largest in the continental United States have occurred in California.
Recent earthquakes that affected the United States include the Feb., 1971, movement of
the San Fernando fault near Los Angeles. It rocked the area for 10 sec, thrust parts of
mountains 8 ft (2.4 m) upward, killed 64 persons, and caused damage amounting to $500
million. In 1989, the Loma Prieta earthquake above Santa Cruz shook for 15 seconds at
an intensity of 7.1, killed 67 people, and toppled buildings and bridges. In Jan., 1994, an
earthquake measuring 6.6 with its epicenter in N Los Angeles caused major damage to
the city's infrastructure and left thousands homeless.

Bibliography
See C. H. Scholz, The Mechanics of Earthquakes and Faulting (1991); C. Lomnitz,
Fundamentals of Earthquake Prediction (1994); D. S. Brumbaugh, Earthquakes: Science
and Society (1998); B. A. Bolt, Earthquakes (4th ed. 1999). See also bibliography under
seismology.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004, Columbia University Press.

Licensed from Columbia University Press

Earthquake
Crystal Reference Encyclopedia - Cite This Source

A series of shock waves generated at a point (focus) within the Earth, and caused by the
movement of rocks on a fault plane releasing stored strain energy. The point on the
surface of the Earth above the focus is the epicentre. Major earthquakes are associated
with the edges of plates that make up the Earth's crust, and along mid-oceanic ridges
where new crust is forming. The greatest concentration of earthquakes is in a belt around
the Pacific Ocean (the ‘ring of fire’), and along a zone from the Mediterranean E to the
Himalayas and China. The magnitude of an earthquake is measured on the Richter scale.
Major earthquakes, such as in San Francisco in 1906 and Japan in 1923, can cause much
damage to property and loss of life. Further dangers arise from associated effects,
especially tsunamis.

See also

plate tectonics
Richter scale
seismology

Major Earthquakes
All magnitudes on the Richter Scalea
Location Country Year Magnitude Deaths
Ica Peru 2007 8·0 500+
Solomon Sea Solomon Is 2007 8·1 39+
Java Indonesia 2006 6·3 5000+
Muzaffarabad N Pakistan 2005 7·6 87 000+
Indian Ocean Indonesia 2005 8·7 1000+
Zarand SE Iran 2005 6·4 400+
Indian Ocean Indonesia 2004 9·3 300 000+
Niigata Japan 2004 6·8 40
Yunnan Province SW China 2004 5.6 4
Niigata Japan 2004 6·8 40
Bam SE Iran 2003 6·3 26 000+
Xinjiang China 2003 6·8 268
Bam SE Iran 2003 6·3 30 000
Quazvin NW Iran 2002 6·3 230
Gujarat India 2001 7·9 20 000/
El Salvador El Salvador 2001 7·6 850
Taiwan Taiwan 1999 7·6 2000+
Izmit Turkey 1999 7·4 15 000+
Armenia Colombia 1999 6·0 2000+
Rostaq Afghanistan 1998 7·1 2000
NW Afghanistan Afghanistan 1998 6·1 4000+
Khorasan Iran 1997 7·1 4000
Lijiang, Yunan China 1996 7.0 250
Biak Is Indonesia 1996 7.5 100+
Neftegorsk Russia 1995 7.6 1989
Kobe Japan 1995 7.2 5477
Mascara Algeria 1994 5.6 171
Cauca Colombia 1994 6.8 269
Sumatra Indonesia 1994 7.0 215
Los Angeles USA 1994 6.8 57
Maharashtra India 1993 6.4 9748
Hokkaido Japan 1993 7.7 200
Cairo Egypt 1992 5.9 500
Erzincan Turkey 1992 6.2 2000
Uttar Pradesh India 1991 6.1 1000
Ossetia Georgia 1991 7.2 100
Hindu Kush Mts Afghanistan/Pakistan 1991 6.8 1300
Cabanatuan Philippines 1990 7.7 1653
Caspian Sea Iran 1990 7.7 40 000
Luzon Island Philippines 1990 7.7 1600
San Francisco USA 1989 6.9 100
N Armenia Armenia 1988 7.0 25 000
Mexico City Mexico 1985 8.1 7200
Naples Italy 1980 7.2 4500
El Asnam Algeria 1980 7.3 5000
Tabas Iran 1978 7.7 25 000
Tangshan China 1976 8.2 242 000
Guatemala City Guatemala 1976 7.5 22 778
Kashmir Pakistan 1974 6.3 5200
Managua Nicaragua 1972 6.2 5000
Tehran Iran 1972 6.9 5000
Chimbote Peru 1970 7.7 66 000
Anchorage USA 1964 8.5 131
Agadir Morocco 1960 5.8 12 000
Ashkhabad Turkmenistan 1948 7.3 19 800
Erzincan Turkey 1939 7.9 23 000
Chillan Chile 1939 7.8 30 000
Quetta India 1935 7.5 60 000
Gansu China 1932 7.6 70 000
Nan-Shan China 1927 8.3 200 000
Kanto Japan 1923 8.3 143 000
Gansu China 1920 8.6 180 000
Avezzano Italy 1915 7.5 30 000
Messina Italy 1908 7.5 120 000
Valparaiso Chile 1906 8.6 20 000
San Francisco USA 1906 8.3 500
Calabria Italy 1783 50 000
Lisbon Portugal 1755 70 000
Calcutta India 1737 300 000
Hokkaido Japan 1730 137 000
Catania Italy 1693 60 000
Shemaka Caucasia 1667 80 000
Shensi China 1556 830 000
Chihli China 1290 100 000
Cilicia Turkey 1268 60 000
Corinth Greece 856 45 000
Antioch Turkey 526 250 000
a
The Richter scale is a logarithmic scale, devised in 1935 by geophysicist Charles
Richter, for representing the energy released by earthquakes. A figure of 2 or less is
barely perceptible, while an earthquake measuring over 5 may be destructive.

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Earthquake
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Cite This Source

An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates
seismic waves. Earthquakes are recorded with a seismometer, also known as a
seismograph. The moment magnitude of an earthquake is conventionally reported, or the
related and mostly obsolete Richter magnitude, with magnitude 3 or lower earthquakes
being mostly imperceptible and magnitude 7 causing serious damage over large areas.
Intensity of shaking is measured on the modified Mercalli scale.

At the Earth's surface, earthquakes manifest themselves by a shaking and sometimes

displacement of the ground. When a large earthquake epicenter is located offshore, the
seabed sometimes suffers sufficient displacement to cause a tsunami. The shaking in
earthquakes can also trigger landslides and occasionally volcanic activity.

In its most generic sense, the word earthquake is used to describe any seismic event—
whether a natural phenomenon or an event caused by humans—that generates seismic
waves. Earthquakes are caused mostly by rupture of geological faults, but also by
volcanic activity, landslides, mine blasts, and nuclear experiments.

An earthquake's point of initial rupture is called its focus or hypocenter. The term
epicenter means the point at ground level directly above this.

Naturally occurring earthquakes

Most naturally occurring earthquakes are related to the tectonic nature of the Earth. Such
earthquakes are called tectonic earthquakes. The Earth's lithosphere is a patchwork of
plates in slow but constant motion caused by the release to space of the heat in the Earth's
mantle and core. The heat causes the rock in the Earth to become flow on geological
timescales, so that the plates move slowly but surely. Plate boundaries lock as the plates
move past each other, creating frictional stress. When the frictional stress exceeds a
critical value, called local strength, a sudden failure occurs. The boundary of tectonic
plates along which failure occurs is called the fault plane. When the failure at the fault
plane results in a violent displacement of the Earth's crust, energy is released as a
combination of radiated elastic strain seismic waves, frictional heating of the fault
surface, and cracking of the rock, thus causing an earthquake. This process of gradual
build-up of strain and stress punctuated by occasional sudden earthquake failure is
referred to as the Elastic-rebound theory. It is estimated that only 10 percent or less of an
earthquake's total energy is radiated as seismic energy. Most of the earthquake's energy is
used to power the earthquake fracture growth or is converted into heat generated by
friction. Therefore, earthquakes lower the Earth's available elastic potential energy and
raise its temperature, though these changes are negligible compared to the conductive and
convection flow of heat out from the Earth's deep interior.
The majority of tectonic earthquakes originate at depths not exceeding tens of kilometers.
In subduction zones, where older and colder oceanic crust descends beneath another
tectonic plate, Deep focus earthquakes may occur at much greater depths (up to seven
hundred kilometers). These seismically active areas of subduction are known as Wadati-
Benioff zones. These are earthquakes that occur at a depth at which the subducted
lithosphere should no longer be brittle, due to the high temperature and pressure. A
possible mechanism for the generation of deep focus earthquakes is faulting caused by
olivine undergoing a phase transition into a spinel structure.

Earthquakes also often occur in volcanic regions and are caused there both by tectonic
faults and by the movement of magma in volcanoes. Such earthquakes can serve as an
early warning of volcanic eruptions.

Some earthquakes occur in a sort of earthquake storm, where earthquake strike a fault in
clusters, each triggered by the previous shifts on the fault lines, similar to aftershocks, but
occurring on adjacent segments of fault, sometimes years later, and with some of the later
earthquakes as damaging as the early ones. Such a pattern was observed in the sequence
of about a dozen earthquakes that struck the North Anatolian Fault in Turkey in the 20th
century, the half dozen large earthquakes in New Madrid in 1811-1812, and has been
inferred for older anomalous clusters of large earthquakes in the Middle East and in the
Mojave Desert.

Size and frequency of occurrence

Small earthquakes occur nearly constantly around the world in places like California and
Alaska in the U.S., as well as in Chile, Peru, Indonesia, Iran, the Azores in Portugal, New
Zealand, Greece and Japan. Large earthquakes occur less frequently, the relationship
being exponential; for example, roughly ten times as many earthquakes larger than
magnitude 4 occur in a particular time period than earthquakes larger than magnitude 5.
In the (low seismicity) United Kingdom, for example, it has been calculated that the
average recurrences are:

• an earthquake of 3.7 or larger every year

• an earthquake of 4.7 or larger every 10 years
• an earthquake of 5.6 or larger every 100 years.

The number of seismic stations has increased from about 350 in 1931 to many thousands
today. As a result, many more earthquakes are reported than in the past because of the
vast improvement in instrumentation (not because the number of earthquakes has
increased). The USGS estimates that, since 1900, there have been an average of 18 major
earthquakes (magnitude 7.0-7.9) and one great earthquake (magnitude 8.0 or greater) per
year, and that this average has been relatively stable. In fact, in recent years, the number
of major earthquakes per year has actually decreased, although this is likely a statistical
fluctuation. More detailed statistics on the size and frequency of earthquakes is available
from the USGS.
Most of the world's earthquakes (90%, and 81% of the largest) take place in the 40,000-
km-long, horseshoe-shaped zone called the circum-Pacific seismic belt, also known as
the Pacific Ring of Fire, which for the most part bounds the Pacific Plate. Massive
earthquakes tend to occur along other plate boundaries, too, such as along the Himalayan
Mountains.

Effects/impacts of earthquakes
There are many effects of earthquakes including, but not limited to the following:

Shaking and ground rupture

Shaking and ground rupture are the main effects created by earthquakes, principally
resulting in more or less severe damage to buildings or other rigid structures. The severity
of the local effects depends on the complex combination of the earthquake magnitude, the
distance from epicenter, and the local geological and geomorphological conditions, which
may amplify or reduce wave propagation. The ground-shaking is measured by ground
acceleration.

Specific local geological, geomorphological, and geostructural features can induce high
levels of shaking on the ground surface even from low-intensity earthquakes. This effect
is called site or local amplification. It is principally due to the transfer of the seismic
motion from hard deep soils to soft superficial soils and to effects of seismic energy
focalization owing to typical geometrical setting of the deposits.

Ground rupture is a visible breaking and displacement of the earth's surface along the
trace of the fault, which may be of the order of few metres in the case of major
earthquakes. Ground rupture is a major risk for large engineering structures such as dams,
bridges and nuclear power stations and requires careful mapping of existing faults to
identify any likely to break the ground surface within the life of the structure.

Landslides and avalanches

Earthquakes can cause landslides and avalanches, which may cause damage in hilly and
mountainous areas.

Fires

Following an earthquake, fires can be generated by break of the electrical power or gas
lines. In the event of water mains rupturing and a loss of pressure, it may also become
difficult to stop the spread of a fire once it has started.

Soil liquefaction
Soil liquefaction occurs when, because of the shaking, water-saturated granular material
temporarily loses its strength and transforms from a solid to a liquid. Soil liquefaction
may cause rigid structures, as buildings or bridges, to tilt or sink into the liquefied
deposits.

Tsunamis

Undersea earthquakes and earthquake-triggered landslides into the sea, can cause
Tsunamis. See, for example, the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.

Human impacts

Earthquakes may result in disease, lack of basic necessities, loss of life, higher insurance
premiums, general property damage, road and bridge damage, and collapse of buildings
or destabilization of the base of buildings which may lead to collapse in future
earthquakes.

Preparation for earthquakes

• Earthquake preparedness
• Household seismic safety
• HurriQuake nail (for resisting hurricanes and earthquakes)
• Seismic retrofit
• Seismic hazard
• Mitigation of seismic motion
• Earthquake prediction

Specific fault articles

• Alpine Fault
• Calaveras Fault
• Cascadia subduction zone
• Geology of the Death Valley area
• Great Glen Fault
• Great Sumatran fault
• Hayward Fault Zone
• Highland Boundary Fault
• Hope Fault
• Liquiñe-Ofqui Fault
• North Anatolian Fault Zone
• New Madrid Fault Zone
• San Andreas Fault

Major earthquakes
Pre-20th century

• Pompeii (62).
• Aleppo Earthquake (1138).
• Basel earthquake (1356). Major earthquake that struck Central Europe in 1356.
• Carniola earthquake (1511). A major earthquake that shook a large portion of
South-Central Europe. Its epicenter was around the town of Idrija, in today's
Slovenia. It caused great damage to structures all over Carniola, including
Ljubljana, and minor damage in Venice, among other cities.
• Shaanxi Earthquake (1556). Deadliest known earthquake in history, estimated to
have killed 830,000 in China.
• Dover Straits earthquake of 1580 (1580).
• Dubrovnik earthquake (1667). Disastrous earthquake in Dubrovnik, Croatia killed
about 3/5 of the population.
• The great Sicilian earthquake (1693). As many as 100,000 may have died.
• Cascadia Earthquake (1700).
• Kamchatka earthquakes (1737 and 1952).
• Lisbon earthquake (1755), one of the most destructive and deadly earthquakes in
history, killing between 60,000 and 100,000 people and causing a major tsunami
that affected parts of Europe, North Africa and the Caribbean.
• Calabria earthquake (1783). Series of 6 earthquakes in Calabria, Italy killed
50,000.
• New Madrid Earthquake (1811), and another tremor (1812) that also struck the
small Missouri town, was reportedly the strongest ever in North America and
made the Mississippi River temporarily change its direction and permanently
altered its course in the region.
• Fort Tejon Earthquake (1857). Estimated Richter Scale above 8, said the strongest
earthquake in Southern California history.
• 1872 Lone Pine earthquake (1872). Might been strongest ever measured in
California with an estimated Richter Scale of 8.1 said seismologists.
• Charleston earthquake (1886). Largest earthquake in the southeastern United
States, killed 100.
• Ljubljana earthquake (14. IV. 1895), a series of powerful quakes that ultimately
had a vital impact on the city of Ljubljana, being a catalyst of its urban renewal.
• Assam earthquake of 1897 (1897). Large earthquake that destroyed all masonry
structures, measuring more than 8 on the Richter scale.

20th century

• San Francisco Earthquake (1906). Between 7.7 and 8.3 magnitudes; killed
approximately 3,000 people and caused around $400 million in damage; most
devastating earthquake in California and U.S. history.
• Messina Earthquake (1908). Killed about 60,000 people.
• Gansu earthquake (1920). Killed 200,000 in Gansu province, China.
• Great Kantō earthquake (1923). On the Japanese island of Honshū, killing over
140,000 in Tokyo and environs.
• 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake. Occurred in the Hawkes Bay in the North Island
of New Zealand leaving 256 dead.
• 1933 Long Beach earthquake
• 1935 Balochistan earthquake at Quetta, Pakistan measuring 7.7 on the Richter
scale. Anywhere from 30,000 to 60,000 people died
• 1939 Erzincan earthquake at Erzincan, Turkey measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale.
• Ashgabat earthquake (1948). Earthquake in Ashgabat, Soviet Union measuring
7.3 on the Richter scale killed over 110,000 (2/3 the population of the city).
• Assam earthquake of 1950 (1950). Earthquake in Assam, India measures 8.6M.
• Kamchatka earthquakes (1952 and 1737), measuring >9.0.
• Great Kern County earthquake (1952). This was second strongest tremor in
Southern California history, epicentered 60 miles North of Los Angeles. Major
damage in Bakersfield, California and Kern County, California, while it shook the
Los Angeles area.
• Quake Lake (1959) Formed a lake in southern Montana, USA
• Great Chilean Earthquake (1960). Biggest earthquake ever recorded, 9.5 on
Moment magnitude scale, and generated tsunamis throughout the Pacific ocean.
• 1960 Agadir earthquake, Morocco with around 15,000 casualties.
• 1963 Skopje earthquake, measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale kills 1,800 people,
leaves another 120,000 homeless, and destroys 80% of the city.
• Good Friday Earthquake (1964) In Alaska, it was the second biggest earthquake
recorded, measuring 9.2M. and generated tsunamis throughout the Pacific ocean.
• Ancash earthquake (1970). Caused a landslide that buried the town of Yungay,
Peru; killed over 40,000 people.
• Sylmar earthquake (1971). Caused great and unexpected destruction of freeway
bridges and flyways in the San Fernando Valley, leading to the first major seismic
retrofits of these types of structures, but not at a sufficient pace to avoid the next
California freeway collapse in 1989.
• Managua earthquake (1972), which killed more than 10,000 people and destroyed
90% of the city. The earthquake took place on December 23, 1972 at midnight.
• Friuli earthquake (1976), Which killed more than 2.000 people in Northeastern
Italy on the 6th of May
• Tangshan earthquake (1976). The most destructive earthquake of modern times.
The official death toll was 255,000, but many experts believe that two or three
times that number died.
• Guatemala 1976 earthquake (1976). Causing 23,000 deaths, 77,000 injuries and
the destruction of more than 250,000 homes.
• Coalinga, California earthquake (1983). 6.5 on the Richter scale on a section of
the San Andreas Fault. Six people killed, downtown Coalinga, California
devastated and oil field blazes.
• Great Mexican Earthquake (1985). Killed over 6,500 people (though it is believed
as many as 30,000 may have died, due to missing people never reappearing.)
• Great San Salvador Earthquake (October 10, 1986). Killed over 1,500 people.
• Whittier Narrows earthquake (1987).
• Newcastle, NSW Australia earthquake 1989 {FLEMO}
• Armenian earthquake (1988). Killed over 25,000.
 • Loma Prieta earthquake (1989). Severely affecting Santa Cruz, San Francisco,
San Jose and Oakland in California. This is also called the World Series
Earthquake. It struck as Game 3 of the 1989 World Series was just getting
underway at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Revealed necessity of accelerated
seismic retrofit of road and bridge structures.
• Iran Earthquake (1990). 7.7 on the Richter scale. Killed over 35,000 in Gilan
Province, southwest of Caspian sea.
• Luzon Earthquake (1990). On 16 July 1990, an earthquake measuring 7.7 on the
Richter scale struck the island of Luzon, Philippines.
• Landers, California earthquake (1992). Serious damage in the small town of
Yucca Valley, California and was felt across 10 states in Western U.S. Another
tremor measured 6.4 struck 3 hours later and felt across Southern California.
• August 1993 Guam Earthquake, measuring 8.2 on the Richter scale and lasting 60
seconds.
• Northridge, California earthquake (1994). Damage showed seismic resistance
deficiencies in modern low-rise apartment construction.
• Sakhalin earthquake (1995). Measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale, killing over
2,000 people in Sakhalin, Russia.
• Great Hanshin earthquake (1995). Killed over 6,400 people in and around Kobe,
Japan.
• Afghanistan earthquake (1998). 6.9 on the Richter scale. Some 125 villages were
damaged and 4000 people killed.
• Athens earthquake (1999). 5.9 on the Richter scale, it hit Athens on September 7.
Epicentered 10 miles north of the Greek capital, it claimed 143 lives.
• Chi-Chi earthquake (1999) Also called the 921 earthquake. Struck Taiwan on
September 21, 1999. Over 2,000 people killed, destroyed or damaged over ten
thousand buildings. Caused world computer prices to rise sharply.
• Armenia, Colombia (1999) 6.2 on the Richter scale, Killed over 2,000 in the
Colombian Coffee Grown Zone.
• 1999 İzmit earthquake measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale and killed over 17,000
in northwestern Turkey.
• Hector Mine earthquake (1999). 7.1 on the Richter scale, epicentered 30 miles
east of Barstow, California, widely felt in California and Nevada.
• 1999 Düzce earthquake at Düzce, Turkey measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale.
• Baku earthquake (2000).

21st century

• Nisqually Earthquake (2001).

• El Salvador earthquakes (2001). 7.9 (13 January) and 6.6 (13 February)
magnitudes, killed more than 1,100 people.
• Gujarat Earthquake (26 January 2001).
• Hindu Kush earthquakes (2002). Over 1.100 killed.
• Molise earthquake (2002) 26 killed.
• Bam Earthquake (2003). Over 40,000 people are reported dead.
 • Parkfield, California earthquake (2004). Not large (6.0), but the most anticipated
and intensely instrumented earthquake ever recorded and likely to offer insights
into predicting future earthquakes elsewhere on similar slip-strike fault structures.
• Chūetsu earthquake (2004).
• Sumatra-Andaman Earthquake (26 December 2004). By some estimates, the
second largest earthquake in recorded history (estimates of magnitude vary
between 9.1 and 9.3). Epicentered off the coast of the Indonesian island of
Sumatra, this massive earthquake triggered a series of gigantic tsunamis that
smashed onto the shores of a number of nations, causing more than 285,000
fatalities.
• Sumatran (Nias) Earthquake (2005).
• Fukuoka earthquake (2005).
• Northern Chile Earthquake (2005). 7.9 (13 June). Killed only 15 people, but left
many poor families homeless.
• Kashmir earthquake (2005) (also known as the Great Pakistan earthquake). Killed
over 79,000 people; and many more injured.
• Lake Tanganyika earthquake (2005).
• May 2006 Java earthquake (2006).
• July 2006 7.7 magnitude Java earthquake which triggered tsunamis (2006).
• September 2006 6.0 magnitude Gulf of Mexico earthquake (2006).
• October 2006 6.6 magnitude Kona, Hawaii earthquake (2006).
• November 2006 8.1 magnitude north of Japan (2006).
• December 26, 2006, 7.2 magnitude, southwest of Taiwan (2006).
• February 12, 2007, 6.0 magnitude, southwest of Cape St. Vincent, Portugal
(2007).
• Sumatra Earthquakes March 06, 2007, 6.4 and 6.3 magnitude, Sumatra, Indonesia
(2007).
• March 25, 2007, 6.9 magnitude, off the west coast of Honshū, Japan (2007).
• April 1, 2007, 8.1 magnitude, Solomon Islands (2007).
• 2007 Guatemala Earthquake 6.7 magnitude (2007)
• July 16, 2007, 6.6 magnitude, Niigata prefecture, Japan (2007)
• 2007 Peru earthquake 8.0 magnitude, August 15 (2007)
• September 2007 Sumatra earthquakes 8.0 magnitude September 12 (2007)
• September 30, 2007, 6.8 magnitude, south of Mariana Islands (2007).
• September 30, 2007, 7.3 magnitude, northwest of Auckland Island, New Zealand
(2007).

Earthquakes in mythology and religion

In Norse mythology, earthquakes were explained as the violent struggling of the god
Loki. When Loki, god of mischief and strife, murdered Baldr, god of beauty and light, he
was punished by being bound in a cave with a poisonous serpent placed above his head
dripping venom. Loki's wife Sigyn stood by him with a bowl to catch the poison, but
whenever she had to empty the bowl the poison would drip on Loki's face, forcing him to
jerk his head away and thrash against his bonds, causing the earth to tremble.
In Greek mythology, Poseidon was the god of earthquakes.

In Christian mythology, certain saints were invoked as patrons against earthquakes,

including Saint Gregory Thaumaturgus, Saint Agatha, Saint Francis Borgia, and Saint
Emygdius.

See also
• Catastrophe modeling
• Cryoseism
• Earthquake insurance
• Earthquake lights
• Earthquake weather
• Earthquake (1974 disaster film)
• Elastic-rebound theory
• Geophysics
• Hypothetical future disasters
• Interplate earthquake
• Intraplate earthquake
• List of earthquakes
• List of all deadly earthquakes since 1973
• List of earthquakes by death toll
• List of tectonic plates
• Megathrust earthquake
• Meizoseismal area
• Mercalli intensity scale
• Moonquake
• Plate tectonics
• Richter magnitude scale
• Seismic scale
• Seismic wave
• Seismogenic layer
• Seismograph
• Seismology
• Shock (mechanics)
• Submarine earthquake
• Tsunami
• The VAN method

References
External links
Educational
 • How to survive an earthquake - Guide for children and youth
• Guide to earthquakes and plate tectonics
• Earthquakes — an educational booklet by Kaye M. Shedlock & Louis C. Pakiser
• The Severity of an Earthquake
• USGS Earthquake FAQs
• Latest Earthquakes in the World - Past 7 days - View in near-real time all of the
recent earthquake events on the planet.
• Earthquake Information from the Deep Ocean Exploration Institute, Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution
• Geo.Mtu.Edu — How to locate an earthquake's epicenter
• Photos/images of historic earthquakes
• earthquakecountry.info Answers to FAQs about Earthquakes and Earthquake
Preparedness
• Interactive guide: Earthquakes - an educational presentation by Guardian
Unlimited
• Geowall — an educational 3D presentation system for looking at and
understanding earthquake data
• Virtual Earthquake - educational site explaining how epicenters are located and
magnitude is determined
• HowStuffWorks — How Earthquakes Work
• CBC Digital Archives — Canada's Earthquakes and Tsunamis
• Earthquakes Educational Resources - dmoz

Seismological data centers

Europe

• European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC)

• Global Seismic Monitor at GFZ Potsdam
• Global Earthquake Report – chart
• Earthquakes in Iceland during the last 48 hours
• Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Italy
• Database of Individual Seismogenic Sources (DISS), Central Mediterranean
• Portuguese Meteorological Institute (Seismic activity during the last month)

United States

• EQNET: Earthquake Information Network

• The U.S. National Earthquake Information Center
• Southern California Earthquake Data Center
• The Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC)
• Putting Down Roots in Earthquake Country An Earthquake Science and
Preparedness Handbook produced by SCEC
• Recent earthquakes in California and Nevada
• Seismograms for recent earthquakes via REV, the Rapid Earthquake Viewer
 • Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS), earthquake database
and software
• IRIS Seismic Monitor - world map of recent earthquakes
• SeismoArchives - seismogram archives of significant earthquakes of the world

Seismic scales

• The European Macroseismic Scale

Scientific information

• Earthquake Magnitudes and the Gutenberg-Richter Law. SimScience. Retrieved

on 2006-08-14..
• Hiroo Kanamori, Emily E. Brodsky (2001). "The Physics of Earthquakes".
Physics Today 54 (6): 34.

Miscellaneous

• Kashmir Relief & Development Foundation (KRDF)

• PBS NewsHour - Predicting Earthquakes
• USGS – Largest earthquakes in the world since 1900
• The Destruction of Earthquakes - a list of the worst earthquakes ever recorded
• Los Angeles Earthquakes plotted on a Google map
• the EM-DAT International Disaster Database
• Earthquake Newspaper Articles Archive
• Earth-quake.org
• PetQuake.org- official PETSAAF system which relies on strange or atypical
animal behavior to predict earthquakes.
• A series of earthquakes in southern Italy - November 23 1980, Gesualdo
• Recent Quakes WorldWide
• Real-time, worldwide earthquake list for the past 7 days
• Real-time earthquakes on Google Map, Australia and rest of the world
• Earthquake Information - Electricquakes.com Exploring possible links between
solar activity and earthquakes with earthquake and solar data streaming sources
shown side by side for visual correlation.
• Earthquake Information - detailed statistics and integrated with Google Maps and
Google Earth
• Kharita - INGV portal for Digital Cartography - Last earthquakes recorded by
INGV Italian Network (with Google Maps)
• Kharita - INGV portal for Digital Cartography - Italian Seismicity by region
1981-2006 (with Google Maps)
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