In what kind of countries are earthquakes likely to occur?

Earthquakes are something that most people fear. There are some places that have few or no earthquakes. Most places in the world, however, have them regularly. Some places, like Iran and Japan, have them frequently. Countries that have a lot of earthquakes are usually quite mountainous.
   The most talked about earthquake in the United State was in San Francisco in 1906. Over 500 people died in it. The strongest one in North America was in 1964. It happened in Alaska.
   Strong earthquakes are not always the ones that kill the most people. In 1755 one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded was felt in Portugal. Around 20,000 people died.
   In 1923 a very powerful earthquake hit the Tokyo-Yokohama area of Japan. 140, 000 people died. Most of them died in fires which followed the earthquake.
   One of the worst earthquake ever was in China in 1976. It killed over 240,000 people. The worst earthquake ever reported was also in China. 830, 000 people were killed in this quake which happened in 1556.
   Earthquakes are not the only acts of nature which people fear. Flood and tidal waves also cause people to be afraid. So do bad storms like typhoons and cyclones. Sometimes these things caused lots of deaths. In 1970 a cyclone and tidal wave killed over 200,000 in Pakistan.
   These kinds of things make people afraid and they are very dangerous. But why they probably do not worry people is that we often know they are coming, we have some warning. Someday we may be able to know an earthquake is coming. So far, however, no sure way is known to predict an earthquake. When one comes it is a surprise. People cannot prepare for it, so thousands of people still die in earthquakes like the one in China in 1976.