Earthquakes frequent the Philippines, an Asian country of 108 million inhabitants. And this is because the archipelago (made up of 7,641 islands) is on the western edge of the so-called “Ring of Fire”. There’s a fascinating reason why geologists attribute "fire" to it. The vast area is a seismically active site, which often triggers volcanic eruptions and tremors. Another fact: this area is home to 75% of the world’s 1,500 most active volcanoes. About 300 of those volcanoes are in the Philippines, of which 22 are active and the rest (278) are "dormant" as of the record. Why is the Philippine frequented by earthquakes? The reason is because it straddles a number of active earthquake fault lines. Faults allow blocks in the Earth's crust to move relative to each other. These movement may occur rapidly, usually in the form of an earthquake — or may occur slowly, in the form of what geologists describe as "creep". Most faults produce repeated displacements over geologic time.