Earthquake occurrence and effects

Although earthquakes are mainly concentrated in zones close to boundaries of tectonic plates of the Earth's lithosphere, infrequent events away from the main seismic regions can cause major disasters. The major cause of damage and injury following earthquakes is elastic vibration, rather than fault displacement. This vibration at a particular site will depend not only on the size and distance of the earthquake but also on the local soil conditions. Earthquake prediction is not yet generally fruitful in avoiding earthquake disasters, but much useful planning to reduce earthquake effects can be done by studying the general earthquake hazard in an area, and taking some simple precautions.