View the original post on Musing.io
A question similar to this was asked a few weeks ago so let me explain it again. Far below the earth's surface are massive rocks called tectonic plates. The continents sit on these tectonic plates. Now, these tectonic plates are constantly moving, and ordinarily, this movement is harmless. But when two tectonic plates collide, then there's a problem.
When the two plates collide, they get stuck. But that doesn't mean they stop trying to move. In trying to keep moving, they break apart and this force created when they break away from each other creates vibrations upwards through the earth and to the sirface. This is what is known as an earthquake.
The vibrations are felt over a very large area of land but the epicentre of the earthquake feels it the most while it reduces the farther away you get from it. The epicentre is the point directly above the origin of the earthquake. It is the point directly above where the tectonic collision occurs