The Earth, with almost 5000 million years old in the universe, is a relatively young planet. Earthquakes or earthquakes are the result of a continuous process of accommodation of the crust. They are generated by collapse of blocks, plates or those displaced by volcanic activity. When an earthquake occurs, the energy is transmitted to the ground in waves, which disappear when a new equilibrium is achieved. The place where such effect is called the hypocenter or focus, and the point of the land area closest to it is called the epicenter. Earthquakes are classified according to the depth of focus within the earth's crust: shallow, up to 70 km; media, from 70-300 km and deep, from 300 km onwards, they account for 75% of all earthquakes. There are about 50,000 earthquakes a year, but most of them the vibrations are so slight that the man did not come to realize, and only some are up to great intensity.
The highest number of recorded earthquakes along the shores of the Pacific Ocean and near the Himalayas in Asia.
In 1935 Richter devised a numerical scale to determine the intensity of an earthquake, based on the amplitude of seismic waves, it measures the maximum energy released during the earthquake.