Earthquakes are usually caused when rocks underground quickly break along a fault. This then realeases seismic waves (A type of energy.) at a rapid speed. This causes the ground to shake and this is known as a earthquake. Earthquakes have had many effects all around the world. The worlds largest earthquake on record was on May 22,1960. This occurred near Valdivia, located in south Chile. The travel speed of about 200 miles per hour. This huge earthquake caused a tsunami wave this killed 61 people in Hawaii. Not only Hawaii many people were affected in Japan and in total 138 people were killed in Japan. But on top of that 32 people were killed in the Philippines. The magnitude was 9.5. Just to let you know the highest you can get is 10. 9.5 is huge and it destroyed so many houses and buildings.