Earthquakes are triggered by a variety of issues arising from the movement of the planet's tectonic plates, when they jerk and slide past each other. Professor Shearer and statistician Philip Stark studied the timings of all large earthquakes that had been recorded between 1900 and 2011, publishing their findings in the journal PNAS. 'Together, these facts suggest that the global risk of large earthquakes is no higher today than it has been in the past.' Catastrophic earthquakes are caused when two tectonic plates that are sliding in opposite directions stick and then slip suddenly. The Earth has fifteen tectonic plates (pictured) that together have molded the shape of the landscape we see around us today These are called intraplate earthquakes.

Source: Daily Mail July 17, 2019 18:48 UTC