Earthquake An earthquake is the name given to a seismic shock wave caused by the movement of tectonic plate s in a planet ' s crust . Earthquakes are caused by tectonic plates suddenly sliding over or past each other , releasing immense stresses which may have been accumulating between the plates for centuries . On Earth , the size of an earthquake was measured according to the Richter scale . ( ) History . In 1865 , San Francisco was struck by an earthquake . ( ) On Earth , in 2047 , the Hermosa Quake struck the western coastline of the United States causing parts of Los Angeles to sink into the Pacific Ocean . ( ) In 2153 , a group of Denobulan scientist s studied a system of caves on the planet , seeking to avert seismic disasters on Denobula . ( ) By the 24th century , seismic regulator s were employed on Earth and Risa to control seismic activity in their crusts . In 2373 , Pascal Fullerton cited the regulators as being an example of the illusion that Risa was . ( ; ) In 2269 , the visited an unstable planet which contained constant earthquakes , gravitic shifts , tidal waves , and high temperatures . ( ) Sometimes , residents of planets other than Earth will refer to earthquakes as landquakes . In 2366 , the people of Bre ' el IV feared that many such events would affect their planet if their moon impacted on the surface . ( ) An earthquake of about 8 or 8 . 5 on the Richter scale was measured on Penthara IV after pockets of subterranean carbon dioxide were released by drilling holes with a phaser drill . ( ) In 2367 , when styling herself as Ardra visited Ventax II , she used technology to create a series of minor tremors on the planet and thus terrorize the populace . Captain Jean - Luc Picard later used similar technology to prove that what " Ardra " had done was not magic . ( ) In the Julian Bashir , Secret Agent holoprogram , the character Hippocrates Noah uses laser s beneath Earth ' s surface to create artificial earthquakes . New York City and Vladivostok were among those struck . ( ) In 2376 , the triggered repeated earthquakes while it was trapped in orbit of a high revolution planet . " Voyager " acted like a third planetary pole , and interfered with the planets natural course of evolution . They used much more iron in their buildings to protect from the earthquakes then you would normally see in a civilization at that stage . Buildings would also have handles throughout them in case of an earthquake . ( ) Appendices . Background information . In " Time ' s Arrow , Part II " , taking place in 1893 , Doctor Apollinaire said , " " There hasn ' t been an earthquake here [ San Francisco ] in thirty years . " " He is referencing the " great " earthquake of October 8 , 1865 , which occurred on the San Andreas Fault . Coincidentally , Samuel Clemens , who also appears in the episode , was in San Francisco during that earlier quake , the effects of which he described in his memoir " Roughing It " . Dr . Appollinaire ' s dismissive attitude is also meant to be ironic , since San Francisco will experience an even more devastating earthquake in , only 13 years later . During an earthquake in Los Angeles , Armin Shimerman rushed home while in his Ferengi makeup to make sure his wife , Kitty Swink , and family were unharmed . His makeup " scared the shit out of people " , as he remarked later . Apocrypha . The novel " A Time for War , A Time for Peace " notes a major earthquake struck San Francisco in 2109 , suggesting that seismic regulators had not come into use until after that date . An earthquake is also mentioned in an unusual storyline , based within the travels of a young scientist , in the book " New Worlds , New Civilizations " .