"It tends to be that, where there are faults, there are changes in the crust that can cause regions to be more fertile in some cases," Bellini said.
"People are drawn to places where they have water, minerals, and good land. For instance, other than Rio de Janeiro [Brazil] and Buenos Aires [Argentina], most of South America's population lives along the west coast in a subduction zone that's responsible for the largest quake ever recorded [a magnitude 9.5 earthquake in Chile on May 22, 1960]."
Other heavily populated hot spots include the western Pacific from Japan south to the Philippines, Mediterranean locales like Italy and Turkey, Iran, and the communities along California's San Andreas Fault.
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