IALT: find the main idea in a story

This story talks about the Earthquake that hit the South Island of New Zealand recently. Find three key ideas in the story, then write 50 words to summarise.

Three key ideas in this story are

• strong 5.7 magnitude earthquake struck Christchurch on Sunday.
• The earthquake caused cliffs to collapse into the sea but no major damage to the city was reported.
• The epicentre was 15 kms (9 miles) east of Christchurch.
• and at a shallow depth of 15 km (9 miles), said the country’s seismological body Geonet.

Summary of the story (put it into your own words) - 50 words

Start here:

An earthquake is a geological event inside the earth that generates strong vibrations. When the vibrations reach the surface, the earth shakes, often causing damage to natural and manmade objects, and sometimes killing and injuring people and destroying their property. Earthquakes can occur for a variety of reasons; however, the most common source of earthquakes is movement along a fault.

Some earthquakes occur when tectonic plates, large sections of Earth's crust and upper mantle, move past each other. Earthquakes along the San Andreas and Hayward faults in California occur because of this. Earthquakes also occur if one plate overruns another, as on the western coast of South America , the northwest coast of North America , and in Japan. If plates collide but neither is overrun, as they do crossing Europe and Asia from Spain to Vietnam, earthquakes result as the rocks at the abutting plates compress into high mountain ranges. In all three of these settings, earthquakes result from movement along faults.