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The Shattering History of Earthquakes

Clive Gifford, Author

Imprint: Franklin Watts

Publication date: September 10, 2026

Category: People & places (Children's / Teenage)

ISBN: 9781445197852

Imprint: Franklin Watts

Publication date: March 11, 2027

Category: People & places (Children's / Teenage)

ISBN: 9781445197869

Earth-shattering earthquakes cause devasting destruction, deadly landslides and frightening tsunamis. But how do they begin and can anything be done to prevent them?

Find out where and why they occur, and how they are measured and studied. Read about the scale of earthquakes and the stories of some famous earthquakes in history. Learn how seismologists are using new technology to help them predict when and where a quake might strike. Discover the fascinating stories that people in the past told to explain earthquakes and how people today live in earthquake-affected areas.

Includes information on plate tectonics, the Ring of Fire, earthquakes scales such as the Richter Scale and the Modified Mercalli Scale, induced earthquakes, seismic waves, aftershocks, tsunamis and landslides and Moonquakes.

The consultant is Director of the Cambridge University Centre for Risk in the Built Environment (CURBE) and she has actively engaged with earthquake‐affected communities around the world.

Clive Gifford

Clive Gifford is the author of more than 150 children’s books including Eye Benders, winner of the Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize, Royal Society-nominated Out of This World and Cool Technology which won the School Library Association Information Book Award. His book, The Colours of History, won the Blue Peter Book Awards’ Best Book With Facts. He has travelled through 70 countries, run a computer games company and taken part in all manner of sports from parachuting and gliding to Ultimate Frisbee. Clive’s official website can be found at www.clivegifford.co.uk