Ring of Fire in 1929; a magnitude 8.1 in 1949 (Canada's largest recorded earthquake); and a magnitude 7.4 in 1970. The Ring of Fire is a direct result of plate tectonics: the movement and collisions of lithospheric plates. The eastern section of the ring is the result of the Nazca Plate and the Cocos Plate being subducted beneath the westward-moving South American Plate. The Cocos Plate is being subducted beneath the Caribbean Plate, in Central America. A portion of the Pacific Plate and the small Juan de Fuca Plate are being subducted beneath the North American Plate. Along the northern portion, the northwestward-moving
Ring of Fire holding the record for the second-largest earthquake in the world, the Good Friday earthquake, and having more than 50 volcanoes which have erupted since about 1760. Volcanoes can be found not only in the mainland, but also in the Aleutian Islands. The most recent activity in the American portion of the Ring of Fire occurred in early 2009 when Mount Redoubt in Alaska became active and finally erupted late in the evening of March 22. The eruption ended in May 2009. The Public Safety Geo-science Program at the Natural Resources Canada undertakes research to support risk reduction from the effects