An earthquake can destroy an entire city! From tremors, cracks and even breaks appear on the surface of the soil. An earthquake is very difficult to predict.

Earthquake at sea

The rise of the earth's crust occurs on the seabed. Underwater rocks shake and cause huge waves - tsunamis. When such a wave the height of a mountain crashes ashore, it throws ships onto the land, uproots trees, knocks down houses.

Why is the earth shaking?

Not only volcanic eruptions cause earthquakes. Often this happens due to faults in the earth's crust. Sometimes scientists manage to anticipate an earthquake, for this they study seismically dangerous zones and activity of volcanoes. To measure the strength of an earthquake, use the Richter scale, and the volume of destruction is measured on the Mercalli scale.

Ancient ruins

Many of the most beautiful ancient cities were destroyed by earthquakes. Only the ruins remained - the ruins of the largest structures, such as temples and theaters.

As the lid jumps on a boiling pan, so does the molten magma inside the Earth that makes the basalt layer shake — the stone armor of our planet. Sometimes an earthquake arises from the fact that a sudden break in the earth's crust occurs.