Most earthquakes occur along the edges of tectonic plates, where the Earth's plates interact by colliding, sliding past, or moving away from each other. The majority of large earthquakes—over 80%—take place around the Pacific Ocean's edges in a region called the "Ring of Fire," which is the most seismically and volcanically active zone in the world

. Besides the Ring of Fire, two other major earthquake belts are significant:

• The Alpide Belt, extending from Southeast Asia through the Himalayas and into the Mediterranean region, accounts for about 17% of the world's earthquakes

• The Mid-Atlantic Ridge, an underwater mountain range in the Atlantic Ocean, also experiences seismic activity due to tectonic plate divergence

In summary, most earthquakes happen near plate boundaries, especially:

• The Pacific Ring of Fire (circum-Pacific seismic belt)
• The Alpide Belt (Asia to Europe)
• The Mid-Atlantic Ridge

These zones correspond to areas where plates converge, diverge, or slide past each other, causing stress accumulation and release in the form of earthquakes