Earthquake facts for kids in Primary School

What is an earthquake?

An earthquake is a release of energy in the earth that makes the ground tremble.

How do earthquakes happen?

Earthquakes happen when two tectonic plates move past each other in the earth’s crust. As the plates move, the rock gets stretched or squeezed until it splits. This squeezing and stretching are what causes the ground to tremble and move.

When the rock gets jammed, the energy builds up until it suddenly becomes free and this causes a huge release in energy and a big movement in the earth. The area underground where the rock moves is the start of the earthquake. We call the point on the surface directly above that the epicentre.

Sometimes not all of the energy is released in one go and the remaining energy is released a little while later. These bursts of energy are called aftershocks.

KD Find out!
Earthquakes are events where the ground shakes. Find out more facts.

Weather WizKids
A tsunami is a large ocean wave usually caused by an underwater earthquake or a volcanic explosion.

Where do earthquakes occur?

Earthquakes mostly happen when two tectonic plates move past each other which means earthquakes are found on the edge of the worlds tectonic plates. The Ring of Fire is the edge of the tectonic plate that the Pacific ocean sits on. A lot of activity is found around the edge of this plate. About 90% of all earthquakes occur along this edge and 75% of all active volcanoes are found here too.

Earthquake Track
See where today’s biggest earthquakes are with this live map.

How are earthquakes measured?

Earthquakes are measured using a seismometer which detects vibrations in the earth. The earthquakes size and strength is then measured using the Richter scale.

Richter scale

Richter Scale	Description	Frequency (per year)
0	Not felt by people	800,000
1	Plates and windows start to rattle
2	Small objects move, liquid in glasses move around
3	Ceiling lights swing, books fall off shelves
4	Walls crack	30,000
5	Furniture moves	1,400
6	Some weaker buildings collapse	100
7	Many buildings destroyed	15
8	Total destruction of buildings, bridges and roads over several hundred miles	1 every 5-10 years
9	Devastation in areas over thousands of miles
10	Never recorded

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How do earthquakes have an impact on the environment?

The obvious things that earthquakes cause are injury or death to people and animals. In addition, homes are destroyed, transport and communication become cut off and water and power lines may be affected too with the devastation that earthquakes bring. Broken gas pipes would cause explosions and fires often then spread.

With settlements destroyed, it can cause people to loot (when people steal from homes and businesses). Food and clean water may be hard to come by and therefore diseases spread.

Entire communities often have to be rebuilt which is very costly. Many businesses are often destroyed and because of this, there may be a huge loss of income for many people.