Editing Earthquake (section)

==In culture==

[[File:Lycosthène.jpg|thumb|An image from a 1557 book depicting an earthquake in Italy in the 4th century BCE]]

From the lifetime of the Greek philosopher [[Anaxagoras]] in the 5th century BCE to the 14th century CE, earthquakes were usually attributed to "air (vapors) in the cavities of the Earth."<ref name=World>{{cite encyclopedia
|title=Earthquakes
|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of World Environmental History
|volume=1: A–G
|pages=358–364
|publisher=Routledge
|year=2003 }}</ref> [[Pliny the Elder]] called earthquakes "underground thunderstorms".<ref name=World/>  [[Thales]] of Miletus (625–547 BCE) was the only documented person who believed that earthquakes were caused by tension between the earth and water.<ref name=World/> 

In [[Norse mythology]], earthquakes were explained as the violent struggle of the god [[Loki]] being punished for the murder of [[Baldr]], god of beauty and light.<ref>{{cite book|last=[[Snorri Sturluson|Sturluson, Snorri]]|title=Prose Edda|year=1220|isbn=978-1-156-78621-5|title-link=Prose Edda|publisher=General Books }}</ref> In [[Greek mythology]], [[Poseidon]] was the cause and god of earthquakes.<ref name="Dimock1990">{{cite book|author=George E. Dimock|title=The Unity of the Odyssey|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hS1acr-lOeEC&pg=PA179|year=1990|publisher=Univ of Massachusetts Press|isbn=978-0-87023-721-8|page=179}}</ref> In [[Japanese mythology]], [[Namazu]] (鯰) is a giant [[catfish]] who causes earthquakes.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.worldhistory.org/Namazu/|title=Namazu|encyclopedia=World History Encyclopedia|access-date=2017-07-23}}</ref> In [[Taiwan]]ese folklore, the [[Tē-gû]] (地牛)  is a giant earth [[True buffalo|buffalo]] who causes earthquakes.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://artouch.com/gumeishu/content-144675.html |title=Earthquake Island, Taiwan: The Ground Buffalo Myth, Deities and Earthquakes |work=ARTouch |date=14 June 2024 |access-date=2025-05-05 |archive-date= |archive-url= |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the [[New Testament]], [[Gospel of Matthew|Matthew's Gospel]] refers to earthquakes occurring both after the [[death of Jesus]] ([[Matthew 27:51]], 54) and at his [[Resurrection of Jesus|resurrection]] ([[Matthew 28:2]]).<ref>Allison, D., ''56. Matthew'', in Barton, J. and Muddiman, J. (2001), [https://b-ok.org/dl/946961/8f5f43 The Oxford Bible Commentary], p. 884</ref>

In modern popular culture, the portrayal of earthquakes is shaped by the memory of great cities laid waste, such as [[Great Hanshin earthquake|Kobe in 1995]] or [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|San Francisco in 1906]].<ref name="Van Riper 60">{{cite book|last=Van Riper|first=A. Bowdoin|title=Science in popular culture: a reference guide|url=https://archive.org/details/sciencepopularcu00ripe|url-access=limited|publisher=[[Greenwood Press]]|location=Westport|year=2002|page=[https://archive.org/details/sciencepopularcu00ripe/page/n77 60]|isbn=978-0-313-31822-1}}</ref> Fictional earthquakes tend to strike suddenly and without warning.<ref name="Van Riper 60" /> For this reason, stories about earthquakes generally begin with the disaster and focus on its immediate aftermath, as in ''Short Walk to Daylight'' (1972), ''[[A Wrinkle in the Skin|The Ragged Edge]]'' (1968) or ''[[Aftershock: Earthquake in New York]]'' (1999).<ref name="Van Riper 60" /> A notable example is Heinrich von Kleist's classic novella, ''[[The Earthquake in Chile]]'', which describes the destruction of Santiago in 1647. [[Haruki Murakami]]'s short fiction collection ''[[After the Quake]]'' depicts the consequences of the Kobe earthquake of 1995.

{{anchor|big one}}The most popular single earthquake in fiction is the hypothetical "Big One" expected of California's [[San Andreas Fault]] someday, as depicted in the novels ''[[Richter 10]]'' (1996), ''[[Goodbye California (novel)|Goodbye California]]'' (1977), ''[[2012 (film)|2012]]'' (2009), and ''[[San Andreas (film)|San Andreas]]'' (2015), among other works.<ref name="Van Riper 60" />