What makes earthquakes so deadly?

As Colombia reels from one of the strongest earthquakes in its recorded history that killed at least 250, just weeks after more than 6,000 deaths in twin quakes in neighbouring Venezuela, many turned to scientists to learn why this series of tremors was so deadly. Moving plates Colombia and Venezuela sit on the boundaries of several moving tectonic plates, whose slow, constant friction creates a build-up of energy that is periodically released, causing an earthquake. German Prieto, a geologist at the National University of Colombia (UNAL), told Reuters that Colombia’s quake involved the Nazca plate sliding beneath the South American plate far beneath under the earth’s crust, which is just…