"earthquake" is an acceptable and correct word for written English.
You can use it to refer to a dramatic shaking of the ground due to natural forces. An example sentence using "earthquake" is: "The recent earthquake caused extensive damage in the area."
His father died in the second world war and the rest of his family was killed in an earthquake that levelled Ashgabat in 1948.
Following an earthquake in 2005, the houses were rebuilt with cement and air-conditioning.
Farage is in a swing through northern cities in a bid to capture the Labour vote, and will not welcome this distraction in the opening days of a campaign in which he is hoping to cause a political earthquake by coming first in the popular vote in the European elections.
He won first prize in 2010 in the live news photograph of the year category for his work documenting the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.
It's extremely bad form to deride another county's earthquake, however hilariously pathetic and underwhelming it was, unless you either come from the affected region or were a former inhabitant.
The villas, forum, shops, basilica and baths aren't what they were in 2AD – when an earthquake accelerated the decline in its fortunes – but it's easy to imagine the citizens looking out to sea while waiting for the action to kick off in the amphitheatre.
The earthquake occurred a few minutes before noon and rumbled across the densely populated Kathmandu Valley, rippled through the capital and spread north towards the Himalayas and Tibet, and west towards the historic city of Lahore in Pakistan.
He and his wife were riding their scooter when the earthquake struck and were thrown off, narrowly missing being hit by falling rubble.
"I rushed outside when I felt the earthquake.
Subarna Khadka was bathing when the first tremor happened, but couldn't escape because the earthquake jammed his bathroom door.
Sujata Thapa, 22, said he was passing Dharahara when the earthquake struck.
