Scientists quantify earthquakes using two primary scales: magnitude and intensity.
The primary danger of an earthquake rarely comes from the ground shaking itself, but from the failure of man-made structures. Beyond collapsing buildings, earthquakes can trigger secondary disasters such as tsunamis, landslides, and "liquefaction"—a phenomenon where solid ground behaves like a liquid, swallowing entire neighborhoods. Earthquake
The Earth’s crust is not a single solid shell but a jigsaw puzzle of massive tectonic plates. These plates are in constant, agonizingly slow motion, fueled by the heat of the planet’s core. Most earthquakes occur at plate boundaries where these slabs of rock grind against one another. The Earth’s crust is not a single solid
However, earthquakes are also essential to the Earth’s geophysics. Over millions of years, this seismic activity has built our mountain ranges and recycled minerals from the crust back into the mantle, maintaining the chemical balance necessary for life. Resilience and Future Outlook However, earthquakes are also essential to the Earth’s