Earthquakes

Syllabus tag: KCSE | Geography | Form 2 | Topic 12 Earthquakes

Lesson objectives

By the end of this topic, you should be able to:

• Define an earthquake and name the parts associated with it.
• Explain the natural and human causes of earthquakes.
• Describe how earthquakes are measured by intensity and magnitude.
• Describe their world distribution and their effects, positive and negative.

Summary

An earthquake is a sudden vibration or shaking of the earth's crust. It begins at the focus underground, and the point vertically above it on the surface is the epicentre, where damage is greatest. Magnitude measures energy released on the Richter scale; intensity measures observed damage on the Mercalli scale.