hmm... so i've been doing some research on earthquakes
And here are some information i've gathered:
An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves.
Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquakes
There are two types of seismic waves, body waves and surface waves. There are two types of Body waves; Primary (compressional) and Secondary (shear) waves. P waves shake the buildings by compressing and expanding, which rips the buildings apart. S waves shake buildings instead of pulling them apart. The two kinds of surface waves are Love waves and Rayleigh waves. Love waves have a side-to-side movement. Rayleigh waves roll like the waves of an ocean.
Plate tectonics is a scientific theory which describes the large scale's slow but constant movement of Earth's lithosphere. Plate tectonics occurs when two plates slide past each other grinding past one another or pushing into one another. Over time, some plates will subduct or the larger plate will slide into the magma and the lighter plate slides over the larger one. Or, some will slide past each other building up pressure and just one slippage could cause a huge amount of energy to be released culminating in major destruction.
Faults are places where the ruptures occur. These deep ruptures occur due to plate tectonics. The faults can move up, down, sideways or horizontal past each other. Faults are usually located underground. There are 3 types of faults;
- dip-slip fault,
2. strike-slip fault
3. oblique-slip fault
Now to research more about buildings and building designs and earthquake proof methods...
