Photograph courtesy of U.S. Navy
Earthquakes
Where Do Earthquakes Happen
Earthquakes have happened all over the world. Eighty percent of all seismic energy is generated at the border of the Pacific Ocean where many volcanoes are found. Japan, the Philippine Islands, California, Alaska, New Guinea, and New Zealand are all part of the Pacific belt. Fifteen percent of the earthquakes occur around a second seismic belt that goes through southern Asia to the Mediterranean Sea. Five percent of the earthquakes happen in the Arctic, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans. Antarctica and Australia have the least number of earthquakes.
The Great San Francisco Earthquake and the Earthquake in Hebgen, Montana are two famous earthquakes in the United States.
San Francisco was wrecked by a Great Earthquake at 5:13 a.m. on April 18, 1906. It caused a fire that burned for four days. Thousands of trapped persons died when South-of-Market tenements collapsed as the ground beneath the building broke apart. Most of those buildings immediately caught fire, and trapped victims could not be rescued. In the 1980's, the 1906 figures were reevaluated and the death toll was determined to be more than 3,000. They decided the damage was estimated to be $500,000,000 in 1906 dollars.
Photograph courtesy of U.S. Navy
The 1959 earthquake in Hebgen, Montana caused a landslide. The landslide blocked the Madison River which created a lake. When this lake overfilled, it flooded the entire town of Ennis.
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