What are earthquakes?

Earthquakes are like when the ground gets wiggly and shakes because something deep inside the Earth moved.

Imagine you're playing with a slinky on the floor. When you push it, it moves and makes waves, that's kind of what happens underground during an earthquake.

The Earth is made up of big, heavy pieces called plates. These plates are always slowly moving, like giant puzzle pieces shifting around. Sometimes they get stuck and then suddenly slip free, causing a shake or a tremor, that’s an earthquake!

If you were standing on the ground during an earthquake, it might feel like someone gave the floor a big nudge. Buildings can sway, things might fall over, and sometimes even roads can crack open.

Sometimes earthquakes are small and just make a little rumble, but other times they’re big, really big! They can shake whole cities and change the shape of the land forever.