Where do most earthquakes occur?

Much of the world’s earthquake and volcanic activity takes place along plate boundaries, the area where plates meet. Countries located along plate boundaries, such as the Eastern Caribbean islands, Japan, Chile and the USA (California) are likely to experience earthquakes. At these plate boundaries the plates interact with each other in different ways; some of them slide past each other, others spread apart and others move toward each other with crumpling or with one dipping beneath the other. This last type of plate boundary is called a subduction zone which is the main type of plate interaction occurring in the Eastern Caribbean.