Earthquakes can happen when the Earth's 'plates' slide against one another. The Earth’s ‘plates’ often push up against each other for thousands of years before they move – the result can mean huge shakes and ripples through the Earth’s crust.

If an Earthquake happens remember to duck cover and hold!

Keep away from things that could fall on you and glass that could break

Have an emergency kit and get ready to get through!

Some more facts about Earthquakes :

An earthquake can also be known as a quake, tremor or temblor and is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic wave

The National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) of the United States Geological Survey locates all globally significant earthquakes (click the link to have a look)

Bryan and Bobby's good friends at Geonet (Dr Hamish and Dr Karen) are part of the geonet project which locates between 50 and 80 earthquakes each day, or about 15,000 a year. Most of these earthquakes are small but around 250 are big enough to be felt. It is estimated that around 500,000 earthquakes occur each year around the world that are detected with the instruments they are using at the moment. About 100,000 of these can be felt by humans!

The biggest known earthquake in New Zealand was the 1855 magnitude 8.2 in the Wairarapa; around 5,000 km2 of land was shifted vertically (upwards) during the earthquake. The largest earthquake recorded in the world in the last 100 years was the 1960 magnitude 9.5 earthquake in Chile. It caused thousands of casualties and created a large tsunami.

In the 15 years between 1992 and 2007, New Zealand experienced over 30 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more.

After a big earthquake expect aftershocks - they can go on for weeks or even months. Each time you feel one, drop, take cover, and hold on.

Click this link and find out what Emergency survival items to take and also just exactly what is a 'getaway kit'

The Earth’s crust moves on the mantle, which is a layer of rock that is partly melted.

The earth’s crust is made up of about 6 huge slabs called tectonic plates.

These tectonic plates are slowly moving on the liquid mantle.

As the plates push past each other they make fractures in the earth’s crust, which send waves of vibration through the plates from the point of fracture.

Earthquakes have two main kinds of waves of vibration. Primary waves that you often hear before you feel and Secondary waves that twist and shake the ground and cause most of the damage.

Earthquakes can have more destructive energy than an atomic bomb.

New Zealand is in the Pacific earthquake zone called the "Ring of Fire".

Earthquakes under the ocean create great waves called Tsunami.