Earthquakes produce various damaging effects to the areas they act upon.

This includes damage to buildings and in worst cases the loss of human life. The
effects of the rumbling produced by earthquakes usually leads to the destruction
of structures such as buildings, bridges, and dams. They can also trigger
landslides.
Besides producing floods and destroying buildings, earthquakes that take
place under the ocean can sometimes cause tsunamis, or tidal waves.
Shaking and ground rupture are the main effects created by earthquakes, principally resulting in more
or less severe damage to buildings and other rigid structures.
Shaking and Ground rupture are the effects of earthquake. Ground shaking is the disruptive up
and down and sideways motion experienced during an earthquake. And, Ground Rupture is the
creation of new or the renewed movements of old fractures, oftentimes with the two blocks on
both sides moving in opposite directions.

The severity of the local effects depends on the complex combination of the earthquake magnitude,
the distance from the epicenter, and the local geological and geomorphological conditions, which may
amplify or reduce wave propagation.[45] The ground-shaking is measured by ground acceleration.
Specific local geological, geomorphological, and geostructural features can induce high levels of
shaking on the ground surface even from low-intensity earthquakes. This effect is called site or local
amplification. It is principally due to the transfer of the seismic motion from hard deep soils to soft
superficial soils and to effects of seismic energy focalization owing to typical geometrical setting of the
deposits.
Ground rupture is a visible breaking and displacement of the Earth's surface along the trace of the
fault, which may be of the order of several metres in the case of major earthquakes. Ground rupture is
a major risk for large engineering structures such as dams, bridges and nuclear power stations and
requires careful mapping of existing faults to identify any which are likely to break the ground surface
within the life of the structure

Earthquakes, along with severe storms, volcanic activity, coastal wave attack, and wildfires,
can produce slope instability leading to landslides, a major geological hazard. Landslide danger may
persist while emergency personnel are attempting rescue.

Avalanches and landslides are very similar because both types of disasters
can be very destructive. Landslides are mostly caused by movement in the
ground and the force of gravity pulling down on all earthly objects. Landslides
can also be caused by heavy rain, earthquakes, and even some man-made
causes such as road work. Landslides usually consist of falling rocks and sliding
earth in addition to failure in the Earths surface. Avalanches and landslides often
occur in conjunction with other natural disasters such as volcanic eruptions,
earthquakes, and other faults in the earth. Effects of landslides include collapsing
buildings, collapsing roads, and even death.

Avalanches are like landslides in many ways. Both can be caused by

failures in the earths surface. While landslides are mostly rocks and other sloped
structures, avalanches consist of falling and sliding snow. Avalanches are
measured on the logarithmic scale, which usually consists of five categories. The
avalanches size and amount of destruction can be rated on the logarithmic
scale. There are two main types of avalanches: a surface avalanche and a fulldepth avalanche. A full depth avalanche is more severe than a surface avalanche
because there is more snow involved and the snow slides over the ground.

Mudslides are similar to landslides and avalanches. Instead of snow like an

avalanche, or rocks in a landslide, mudslides consist of sliding mud. Mudslides
usually consist of mud, dirt, earth, and debris that rushes down the side of a
slanted geographic feature such as a mountain or hillside. Mudslides can also be
caused by heavy rainfall.

Some of the worlds worst landslides have taken place in Asia. Countries
such as China, the Philippines, and Indonesia have experienced some of the
worst disasters. Avalanches often take place on the west coast of the United
States, including Alaska and California. Avalanches are also very common in the
Alps.