There are many natural phenomena that result in huge disasters. These disasters leave their marks for hundreds of years. Earthquake is one such natural phenomenon. From the day this world existed it has seen countless earth shakes. Earthquakes occur due to the movements of the layers beneath the earth’s crust. These layers are called tectonic plates. These plats move to and fro and shake the earth. The closer is this movement to the surface, the greater the magnitude of the earthquake is.
1. Most earthquake receiving zones
Earthquakes are not bound to happen in one place only. They can occur anywhere at any time and there is no mechanism to predict them. But then their occurrence in most numbers is observed in Alaska and California.
2. Largest earthquake
Earth has shaken many times, sometimes hardly and sometimes softly. But the largest earthquake recorded on rector scale to date shacked Chile in 1960. Its magnitude was 9.5.
3. Occurrence
The history and the study have revealed that there are approximately 2 earthquake occurrences every minute on planet earth. Mild or huge, but they occur every min.
4. Seismograph
Seismograph is the device that records the magnitude of the earthquake. It records it by showing the lines that go beyond their normal pattern during a jerk.
5. Plate boundaries
The occurrence of the earthquake is not just that earth shakes. There are tectonic plates beneath the surface that move. Their movement change the atmosphere result is jerks. 90 percent of the earthquakes occur along the plate boundaries.
6. After shocks
When the main earthquake occurs, it is followed by the smaller earthquakes. These smaller jerks are called aftershocks. Even their magnitude could be large.
7. Unpredictable
There is no mechanism that can predict the earth quakes. Japan is the most prone zone, they build the buildings that can absorb the energy coming out of the earth during shocks but cannot predict their occurrence.
8. Initial point
The initial point from where the shakes begin is called focus. This is the point from which the waves are spread to the other parts just like the waves spreading in the water after a stone is thrown.
9. Epicenter
We often hear the epicenter of the earthquake whenever the news about any earthquake is broadcasted. This is the point that lies exactly above the focus of the quake.
10. Faults
Earthquakes occur along the faults of the earth. Here the fault means the cracks in the earth.