Earthquake Facts

Below are some Earthquake facts to help you understand and be more familiar with plate tectonics theory. You can use these earthquake facts in a quiz at school or as a game for fun. If you want to add more earthquake facts to our list, please use our contact form to add your earthquake facts.

List of Earthquake Facts

Fact #1: Earthquakes can cause enormous waves in the ocean. Fact #2: Earthquakes undersea can cause undersea landslides which can cause gigantic wave on the ocean surface called tsunami.

Fact #3:

On December 26, 2004, a series of tsunamis caused by an earthquake under the Indian Ocean killed hundreds of thousands of people in Southeast Asian countries including Thailand and Indonesia.

Fact #4:

There are two types of Earthquake waves; the body waves which travel deep into the earth and surface waves.

Fact #5:

In 1906, an earthquake almost destroyed San Francisco. The earthquake responsible was known as The Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. The violent earthquake lasted for almost 45 seconds destroying buildings and streets all over San Francisco. The San Francisco Earthquake was estimated to be about 8.3 making it one of the most powerful earthquakes ever to hit North America.

Fact #6:

The size of the earthquake depends on the size of the break in the fault.