What is an earthquake?

An earthquake is when the ground and everything around us begins shaking. Earthquakes can be very dangerous, but luckily we have found ways to make them safer for people.

Earth's surface is made up of big plates called tectonic plates. Depending on how plates move compared to others, they are either called Transform Boundaries, Convergent Boundaries, or Divergent Boundaries. These plates make up the land you stand on, and are constantly moving! '

As these tectonic plates collide with each other, pressure builds up. Eventually, this pressure is released from the plates, and this causes the ground to shake really hard. The place where earthquakes start is called the epicenter.  Convergent boundaries cause the most shaking. This shaking is what we call an earthquake.

The Earthquakes emit seismic waves. The first type to come is primary waves, the least dangerous, then secondary waves, and then finally, surface waves, which are the most dangerous type of wave.

Scientists can know when an earthquake is happening and how long it lasted by using something called a seismograph. The way it works is a paper rolls around and a pen writes on it that will shake when the earth shakes. This helps scientists know when an earthquake happens, and the magnitude of the earthquake.

As you might know, earthquakes can be very dangerous..

Earthquakes can cause buildings and trees to fall, fires, and more. This can cause lots of injuries and even deaths.

Luckily, scientists have worked hard to help keep us and our cities safe when earthquakes happen!

Scientists and engineers have designed buildings in ways that earthquakes won't break them or make them fall as easily.

But, those aren't the only things we can do to stay safe. There are some things even you can do to stay safe from earthquakes!