Earthquakes refer to shaking of earth. There is continuous activity going on below the surface of the earth. There are several large plates (size of continents) below the surface of the earth, which move (at a very slow speed). As a part of this movement, sometimes, they collide against each other. And, after the collision, they might still continue to push each other. As they continually keep pushing each other, there is a pressure building up – across these plates below the surface. And, then, at a certain time, one of the plates might slide over another. This causes an earthquake.

Some earthquakes might be caused by activity above the surface. For example in a mountainous region, there might be a heavy landslide. Due to a huge mass of land falling, at the point of the fall, there could be a minor shaking of earth, due the impact of fall. However, usually, such earthquakes are not very major.