The Ring of Fire is an area where the majority of the seismic and volcanic activity in the world occurs. According to National Geographic, 75% of the Earth's volcanoes are found in this area and 90% of the world's earthquakes occur here. There are over 20 active volcanoes in the Philippines alone.
Angeles, the city where I'm living, is sandwiched between two large volcanoes, active Mount Pinatubo to the west and inactive Mount Arayat to the east. Both of these volcanoes are less than an hour's drive from here. A few months ago, there was an earthquake whose epicenter was about 20 km from where I live. I hid under a table on the fourth floor of a building during the tremors. Luckily, Filipinos build with earthquakes in mind: my building did not collapse!
The volcanic and seismic (earthquake) activity in the Ring of Fire is caused by the movement of tectonic plates, large pieces of the Earth's lithosphere (solid part) which results in volcanic eruptions or earthquakes. Both eruptions and earthquakes happen quite frequently in this region--in fact, more so than anywhere else in the world!
