How Earthquakes Happen
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When we least expect it,
when we're least prepared
disaster can strike.
and few disasters are as unsettling as an earthquake.
My guess is that earthquakes are really so scary
because you don't have any warnings
It's the only thing besides a nuclear war
that can really... one second you're living in a big beautiful city
and ten seconds later it's flat
Every day the earth is shaken by hundreds of small earthquakes
Most go unnoticed.
They usually occur along the boundaries of the thin plates that cover the earth like an eggshell.
Driven by the heat, deep within the earth's core
the plates grind against each other on long lines called faults.
When the plates find their motion blocked, stress builds up
Finally the fault gives way
The released energy raises through the in the form of sismic waves
For much of the world, the movement of plates like these is also an indispensable creative force.
If we didn't have earthquakes, if we didn't have this great flow of heat from the interior of the earth
the earth would be a cold dead place.
If it wasn't for this great flow of heat,
there'd be no continents, no oceans, no atmospheres
The earth would be as dead and dry and cold as the moon.
It's really the earthquake that creates the topography, the valleys, the mountains
Earthquakes have been shaping landscapes for eons
It's only in the last few hundred years that civilization has gotten in the way
and when it does ...