Articles

Understanding Earthquakes

Plain-English explainers on how earthquakes work, what the numbers mean, and how to stay safe — written to pair with the live tracker.

What Is an Earthquake?

Why the ground shakes: tectonic plates, faults, stress and elastic rebound — the basics in a few minutes.

Tectonic, volcanic, collapse and human-induced quakes — and the strike-slip, normal and thrust faults behind them.

P-waves, S-waves and surface waves, how they propagate, and why subduction zones produce the biggest quakes.

Drop, Cover, Hold On — what to do in the seconds of shaking and the hours after, plus a simple readiness checklist.

Foreshocks, mainshock and aftershocks (replicas): why they happen, how long they last, and how the risk fades.

A look at notable recent quakes — location, magnitude and what made each one significant.