A tragic hero can be defined simply as the protagonist of a tragedy. The Greek philosopher Aristotle, however, endowed this individual with a number of specific characteristics. The first of which is his ability to evoke fear and pity from an audience.
Earthquakes are caused by either volcanic activity or shifting of massive tectonic plates underneath the surface of the earth. The plates have a ton of pressure and are pressing against each other, and when the plates suddenly shift it causes the entire ground to move, shake or break apart.
What is an earthquake? This can be something of a confusing question, because the answer can be either one of two directly related phenomena, and both involve movements in the Earth's crust. An earthquake is the ground motion you experience when a part of the Earth's crust shifts along a surface, a sort of fracture in the crust, known as a fault. This shift produces vibrations in the rocks and soil beneath us.