--- title: Earthquakes — how Mova does on the tests · Geography description: Lesson 44 of the geography course of Mova's primary school: 2 of 10 tests right, exam 2 of 4, every question with the options, the student's choice, the right answer and why it chose. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/geography/44-earthquakes/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/) / [Geography](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/geography/) / 44 # Earthquakes **Tests:** 2 of 10 right · **Exam:** 2 of 4 right · **Kind:** plain · **Understood:** 3 of 14 · **Run:** 2026-10-18, commit `f3c23ea72` Lesson 44 of the geography course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: [the lesson in the corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/geography/44-earthquakes/). Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: [the lesson's questions in the corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/44-earthquakes/). ### Test 1 · wrong ✗ {#t1} Jake says: "In an earthquake the ground opens up and swallows whole cities." Put him right. - **1.** Cities sink slowly into the sea instead — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** The ground opens and lava pours out of the cracks instead — no support - **3.** That's rare; most deaths come from buildings falling down — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **4.** He's right, that's what kills most people in a big quake — no support **Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/44-earthquakes/t1/) ### Test 2 · wrong ✗ {#t2} "my mate says a 6 is just a bit worse than a 5, like one more" Is he right? - **1.** No, a 6 is a thousand times weaker than a 5 — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** Yes, the numbers are just names — no support - **3.** Yes, it's exactly one unit more energy, a bit worse — no support - **4.** No, a 6 releases about 32 times more energy — **✓ the right answer** · no support **Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/44-earthquakes/t2/) ### Test 3 · right ✓ {#t3} A seismograph 500 km away records two jolts a minute apart. Why two? - **1.** The fast P waves arrive before the slower S waves — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · no support - **2.** Two earthquakes happened at exactly that same moment — no support - **3.** The machine is broken and counts every quake twice — no support - **4.** The second jolt is an echo from the Moon — no support **Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/44-earthquakes/t3/) ### Test 4 · wrong ✗ {#t4} In a disaster film a scientist says: "The earthquake will hit at 3:15 on Tuesday." What's wrong? - **1.** Nothing, that is exactly how real warnings work — no support - **2.** Earthquakes only happen at night, never in the afternoon — score 0 - **3.** Scientists can predict them to the second — **← Mova's choice** · score 3 - **4.** Nobody can predict the exact time of an earthquake — **✓ the right answer** · no support **Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 3, against 0 for the next best. Its support: lesson 43, line 15: «Scientists predict the continents will join again in about 200-250 million years, though they argue about the exact shape.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «scientists» (+2); the same action «predict» (+1). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/44-earthquakes/t4/) ### Test 5 · wrong ✗ {#t5} What would happen if a city built all its houses from heavy bricks with no steel? - **1.** They would be the safest houses possible, as bricks are heavy — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** A strong quake would bring many down and cause many deaths — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **3.** The bricks would soak up all the shaking like a sponge does — no support - **4.** Nothing, bricks cannot fall down — no support **Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/44-earthquakes/t5/) ### Test 6 · wrong ✗ {#t6} "crap, the house shook a bit last night in Lincolnshire, is that even possible in England?" - **1.** No, it must have been a lorry, England has never had one — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** No, earthquakes only happen in hot countries — no support - **3.** Yes, Britain has small earthquakes and a few are felt — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **4.** Yes, but only if there is a volcano somewhere near you — no support **Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/44-earthquakes/t6/) ### Test 7 · right ✓ {#t7} A week after a big quake the ground shakes again. Mia says a new disaster is starting. What's most likely? - **1.** It is an aftershock, common for months after — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · no support - **2.** It is a volcano about to erupt — no support - **3.** It is a sign the first quake was fake — no support - **4.** It is a tsunami arriving late — no support **Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/44-earthquakes/t7/) ### Test 8 · wrong ✗ {#t8} Where would the shaking usually be strongest? - **1.** On the other side of the Earth, opposite the focus — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** Exactly halfway round the world from the focus — no support - **3.** In the city furthest from the fault — no support - **4.** Near the epicentre, right above the focus — **✓ the right answer** · no support **Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/44-earthquakes/t8/) ### Test 9 · wrong ✗ {#t9} Why did Lisbon in 1755 suffer so much more than the shaking alone? - **1.** The city had no buildings at all — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** A tsunami and fires followed the earthquake — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **3.** The quake lasted for a whole year without stopping — no support - **4.** A volcano erupted right under the city centre — no support **Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/44-earthquakes/t9/) ### Test 10 · wrong ✗ {#t10} Your little sister bends a plastic ruler until it snaps and her hands jump. How is this like an earthquake? - **1.** The ruler shows how lava squeezes out of a volcano — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** It shows how the Moon pulls the plates up and down — no support - **3.** It isn't like an earthquake at all — no support - **4.** Strain builds up slowly, then is released all at once — **✓ the right answer** · no support **Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/44-earthquakes/t10/) ### Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e1} Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the epicentre of an earthquake? - **1.** The point within the crust at which the rupture originates — **← Mova's choice** · score 9 - **2.** The point upon the surface situated directly above the focus — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **3.** The location at which the greatest number of casualties occurs — no support - **4.** The point upon the opposite side of the planet from the focus — score 9 **Why:** It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 1 with score 9, tied with another option at 9 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 44, line 7: «The point underground where the rock slips is the focus, and the point on the surface right above it is the epicentre, where the shaking is usually strongest.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+5); the same doer «point» (+4). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/44-earthquakes/e1/) ### Exam question 2 · formal language · right ✓ {#e2} Identify the principal cause of fatalities in the event of a major earthquake. - **1.** The collapse of buildings and other structures — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · no support - **2.** The noise generated by the movement of the ground — no support - **3.** The opening of fissures which engulf the population — no support - **4.** The emission of lava from ruptured faults — no support **Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/44-earthquakes/e2/) ### Exam question 3 · formal language · right ✓ {#e3} It is given that an earthquake of magnitude 7 has occurred. Ascertain the approximate energy released relative to an earthquake of magnitude 6. - **1.** Approximately thirty-two times greater — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · no support - **2.** Exactly equal in quantity to the former — no support - **3.** Approximately one-tenth as great in quantity — no support - **4.** Approximately twice as great — no support **Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/44-earthquakes/e3/) ### Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e4} Select the response that is consistent with the established facts concerning the forecasting of earthquakes. - **1.** Earthquakes occur only upon those dates determined by the phases of the Moon — **← Mova's choice** · score 3 - **2.** The precise date and hour may be predicted with confidence one week in advance — no support - **3.** The precise date cannot be predicted, although regions of hazard may be mapped — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **4.** Neither the date nor the region of hazard can be determined — no support **Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 42, line 12: «Where plates slide past each other sideways, crust is neither made nor destroyed, but strong earthquakes happen, as along the San Andreas Fault in California.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «strong earthquakes» (+2); the same action «happen» (+1). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/44-earthquakes/e4/) - ← previous: [43. Moving continents: from Pangaea to today](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/geography/43-moving-continents-from-pangaea-to-today/) - next →: [45. Tsunamis](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/geography/45-tsunamis/) - ↑ back to [Geography](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/geography/)