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Morgan Liaudaitis
Mrs. Craig
Grade 8 English, Period 8
March 17, 2015
Earthquakes
Imagine you are in your house on the Fourth of July. It is 900 outside and sunny. Your
friends and family are swimming in the pool and they are all having a good time but then all of a
sudden the ground starts to shake. Trees are falling down, the roof on your house is caved in,
people are running out of the pool, and then, to your surprise, the ground in your backyard splits
in half. This is a scenario that an Earthquake could cause anytime, anywhere. According to
Earthquakes.usgs.gov, There are about 20,000 earthquakes every year. Earthquakes severely
impact several areas. These effects can happen to the Earth, people, and property. One area that
Earthquakes can impact is the planet.
Earthquakes have damaged the Earth in many ways. For example, approximately 250
million years ago all the continents on the Earth were connected. An earthquake separated the
supercontinent. In the article If you Traveled to Gondwana, it says, millions of years ago, the
Tethys Sea flowed in to divide the supercontinent Pangaea into Laurasia in the north and
Gondwana in the south. Also, continental plates move to create new oceans and moving ocean
life making new land forms. The article If you Traveled to Gondwana also says Earths
continents are not fixed in place. Rather they slide slowly over the planets molten mantle. This
proves that Earthquakes can create new land forms. Not only is the Earth affected, but people
have also been impacted by Earthquakes.
The effects of an earthquake on humans is not only life threatening at times, but can take
an emotional and physical toll. Earthquakes can take countless lives. For example, in the article
Loma Prieta Earthquake, the author talked about an earthquake that took place in San
Francisco, California on October 18, 1989. The article said, The earthquake killed 60, injured
4,000, and left several thousands of Californians homeless. Another example occurred in

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Sacramento, California when a person witnessed first-hand that a section of the freeway had
been tilted up taking up six lanes. That would have caused issues for people trying to get home to
their families and loved ones. Property is another area that can be affected by Earthquakes.
Many areas around the Earth can be affected by earthquakes. These areas include
property. Homes can be severely damaged due to earthquakes. One woman named Sandra T.
Upton had about $54,880 of damage to her house. In some cases earthquakes cause more damage
to a house than what the house is worth. If an earthquake ruins a structure to a home, the home
may possibly be ruined. Earthquakes can be very damaging to many areas.
An earthquake can cause a abundance of damage to many areas. Earthquakes have split
continents and created new seas. They have also killed countless numbers of people. Finally, they
caused a significant amount of damage to homes all across the planet. The planet is at risk of an
earthquake at any second. They are very dangerous and very unpredictable.