Past Earthquakes
In the past many earthquakes have happened, usually in towns placed on the fault lines of the tectonic plates. In places like New Zealand, located over the Madrid fault line, about 15,000 earthquakes occur each year although only about 100-150 can be felt. New Zealand is also apart of the burning ring of fire, also known as the circum-pacific seismic belt, which is a ring of fault lines.
Around 90% of the world's earthquakes occur here and 81% of the world's largest earthquakes have occurred here. The ring of fire is also full of volcanic activity.
The biggest earthquake ever recorded was in 1960 in Southern Chile. It measured a 9.5 on the richter scale (learn more about the measurement of earthquakes here: http://saskiaandgabbyearthquakes.weebly.com/how-are-earthquakes-recorded.html). It 1,650 people, injured 3,000 people, left 2,000,000 people homeless and costed about $550,000,000. The damage was devastating and there are still many earthquakes in Chile on a regular basis.
On the other end of the scale, earthquakes happen all the time in some places but are so small that they aren't even felt! They have no to very little effect on people and usually aren't even felt.
The biggest earthquake ever recorded was in 1960 in Southern Chile. It measured a 9.5 on the richter scale (learn more about the measurement of earthquakes here: http://saskiaandgabbyearthquakes.weebly.com/how-are-earthquakes-recorded.html). It 1,650 people, injured 3,000 people, left 2,000,000 people homeless and costed about $550,000,000. The damage was devastating and there are still many earthquakes in Chile on a regular basis.
On the other end of the scale, earthquakes happen all the time in some places but are so small that they aren't even felt! They have no to very little effect on people and usually aren't even felt.
