Describe the distribution of Earthquakes in the world.

The distributional pattern of earthquakes shows that there are three major belts in the world in which the earthquakes frequently occur. These earthquake belts are:

1. The Circum-Pacific Belt (Convergent Plate Boundaries) — It extends in west from Alaska to Kurile, Japan, Mariana and the Philippine trenches. Its one branch goes towards the Indonesian trench and the other goes towards the Kermadec-Tonga trench to the north-west of New Zealand. On the eastern side of the Pacific the earthquake zone follows the west coast of North America and continues southward along Pem and Chile trench on the west coast of South America.
2. The Mid-Atlantic Belt (Divergent Plate Boundaries) — This belt of earthquakes extends along the mid-oceanic ridges and several islands near the ridges of Atlantic Ocean. Earthquakes of moderate to mild intensity with shallow focus are recorded in this belt. The Rift Valley of East Africa and the Red Sea are considered as an extension of this belt.
3. The Mid-Continental Belt — This belt extends along the Alpine mountain system of Europe, Rocky mountains in North America, through Asia Minor, Caucasia, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan to the Himalayan mountain system including Tibet, the Pamir, Tien-Shan, Altai and the mountains of China, Myanmar and eastern Siberia. This zone is characterised by larger earthquakes of shallow origin and some of intermediate origin.