The Ring of Fire

About 90% of the world's earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire — a 40,000-kilometer horseshoe of tectonic plate boundaries encircling the Pacific Ocean. It runs from New Zealand through Indonesia, Japan, Alaska, and down the west coasts of North and South America.

Over 450 million people live within the Ring of Fire. Tokyo, the world's largest metropolitan area, sits at the junction of three tectonic plates. Mexico City was built on a drained lakebed that amplifies seismic waves.