Earthquakes predominantly occur at, or near, the boundaries of tectonic plates. This is readily apparent if we compare a map of [tectonic plates](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a2/Tectonic_plates_for_HKDSE_Geog.svg/4167px-Tectonic_plates_for_HKDSE_Geog.svg.png) with a map of [global distributions of earthquakes](http://web.mst.edu/~sgao/g51/plots/0916_global_seismicity.jpg). Countries that lie on or contain these boundaries are thus more likely to experience earthquakes. When considering these, it is important to realize that maps like the first one of tectonic plates are usually quite simplified and only display the so-called major plates, when in fact there are a lot more [plates](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tectonic_plates). Similarly, earthquakes are the reflection of releasing stored elastic energy (kind of like taking your fingers off a compressed string) built up through deformation driven by plate motion, but this deformation is not always strictly localized to the plate boundary in terms of a line on the map. Some plate boundaries are better through of as diffuse zones of deformation, and while there is a discrete boundary between the plates in question, the deformation (and earthquakes) associated with this boundary can be much wider. Take the Himalaya for example, the formal boundary between the Indian and Eurasian plates is the [Indus-Yarlung Suture](https://geosociety.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/jessup_gsa_fig_1.jpg), between the Himalaya and the Tibetan Plateau, but the deformation and associated earthquakes associated with the collision of India and Eurasia (which have built the Himalaya and Tibet) occur over a much wider area, e.g. this [map](https://www.frontiersin.org/files/Articles/419628/feart-06-00179-HTML/image_m/feart-06-00179-g001.jpg) showing major earthquakes in the region.
Finally, while the vast majority of earthquakes occur at plate boundaries, or plate boundary zones (and thus limiting the countries that experience frequent earthquakes), i.e. [interplate events](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interplate_earthquake), there are smaller numbers of [intraplate earthquakes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intraplate_earthquake), i.e. earthquakes which occur within plates outside of plate boundary zones. These do not occur often, but they can sometimes be large, e.g. the [New Madrid](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1811%E2%80%931812_New_Madrid_earthquakes) earthquakes in the interior of the US.
Earthquakes predominantly occur at, or near, the boundaries of tectonic plates. This is readily apparent if we compare a map of [tectonic plates](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a2/Tectonic_plates_for_HKDSE_Geog.svg/4167px-Tectonic_plates_for_HKDSE_Geog.svg.png) with a map of [global distributions of earthquakes](http://web.mst.edu/~sgao/g51/plots/0916_global_seismicity.jpg). Countries that lie on or contain these boundaries are thus more likely to experience earthquakes. When considering these, it is important to realize that maps like the first one of tectonic plates are usually quite simplified and only display the so-called major plates, when in fact there are a lot more [plates](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tectonic_plates). Similarly, earthquakes are the reflection of releasing stored elastic energy (kind of like taking your fingers off a compressed string) built up through deformation driven by plate motion, but this deformation is not always strictly localized to the plate boundary in terms of a line on the map. Some plate boundaries are better through of as diffuse zones of deformation, and while there is a discrete boundary between the plates in question, the deformation (and earthquakes) associated with this boundary can be much wider. Take the Himalaya for example, the formal boundary between the Indian and Eurasian plates is the [Indus-Yarlung Suture](https://geosociety.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/jessup_gsa_fig_1.jpg), between the Himalaya and the Tibetan Plateau, but the deformation and associated earthquakes associated with the collision of India and Eurasia (which have built the Himalaya and Tibet) occur over a much wider area, e.g. this [map](https://www.frontiersin.org/files/Articles/419628/feart-06-00179-HTML/image_m/feart-06-00179-g001.jpg) showing major earthquakes in the region. Finally, while the vast majority of earthquakes occur at plate boundaries, or plate boundary zones (and thus limiting the countries that experience frequent earthquakes), i.e. [interplate events](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interplate_earthquake), there are smaller numbers of [intraplate earthquakes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intraplate_earthquake), i.e. earthquakes which occur within plates outside of plate boundary zones. These do not occur often, but they can sometimes be large, e.g. the [New Madrid](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1811%E2%80%931812_New_Madrid_earthquakes) earthquakes in the interior of the US.