Why do earthquakes occur?
Cause & Effect
Why do they happen?
Earthquakes are usually happen when the rock underground suddenly breaks along a fault. This sudden release of energy causes the seismic waves that make the ground shake. When two blocks of rock or two plates are rubbing against each other, they stick a little.
The impact they have on our society
This really affects us in many ways. One of them is economically because these earthquakes demolish buildings and they cost a lot of money to rebuild. Some people become really scared of earthquakes as they can be fatal. Others are not that big as the others and do not really cause a lot of damage.
The biggest earthquake ever recorded!
Some of these earthquakes are really deadly and some are not. The most massive earthquake ever recorded had a magnitude of 9.5 in Valdivia, Chile. This happened on May 22, 1960 and had about 2,230-6,000 casualties. It lasted approximately 10 minutes and the resulting tsunami affected southern Chile, Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines, eastern New Zealand, southeast Australia and the Aleutian Islands.