The reason why earthquakes happen in specific places is because they are all on tectonic plates, for example New Zealand Christ Church is always hit due to it being on tectonic plates.
There are seven or eight tectonic plates cover the earth. They are places all around the world and when they are pushed together they have a movement on the earth surface. So were the tectonic plate are is were they have the most earthquakes is close to a pair of plates.
An interesting Earthquake and Facts
A specific example of an earthquake is the great Kanto earthquake of 1923 that shocked the nation.
·The disaster struck at 11:58 on September 1st 1923 ·The earthquake measured at 8.2 on the Richter scale ·The epicenter of the earthquake was located near the shim Island in sagama bay (south of Tokyo). ·The tremors most heavily affected the imperial capital, Tokyo, and left the port metropolis Yokohama in ruins. ·There were fired from this earthquake ·Both fires and earthquakes claimed the lives of nearly 130,000 people ·90% of all homes in Yokohama were damaged or destroyed ·35,000 homes met the same fate in Tokyo 60% of the city’s population was left homeless