Earthquakes happen all the time. There are up to 9,000 earthquakes around the world every day. Most of them are so small we don’t even notice them. But Haiti was struck by biggest earthquake in 200 years. Many of the buildings were old or very badly built. They collapsed during the earthquake and 1.5 million people were left without homes. The amount of damage caused by an earthquake depends on many things. A major earthquake can cause very little damage if it occurs far away from towns and cities.