Faults are fractures in Earth’s crust where movement has occurred. Sometimes faults move when energy is released from a sudden slip of the rocks on either side. Most earthquakes occur along plate boundaries, but they can also happen in the middle of plates along intraplate fault zones. During the winter of 1811–1812, a series of earthquakes struck New Madrid, Missouri. More recently, the Sichuan region in China suffered a devastating intraplate earthquake in 2008.