Maanquakeihin

Maanquakeihin is a coined term used chiefly in Finnish-language speculative fiction and online discourse to refer to a class of earthquake-like seismic events. It is not a standard term in geophysics. The word fuses Finnish maa 'earth' with the English loan word quake and the Finnish plural/illative suffix -iin, producing a plural noun that can function in context as a reference to multiple maanquakeihin or to the concept as a group of phenomena.

In world-building and games, maanquakeihin are often depicted as extraordinary or cascading seismic phenomena that challenge infrastructure, trigger aftershocks, and alter landscapes. They may be tied to fictional causes such as planetary alignment, subsurface anomalies, or manipulated geology, and are used to explore emergency response, urban planning, and societal resilience in disaster scenarios.

Usage ranges from descriptive narrative devices to comparative analysis of seismic risk in imagined environments. While the term may appear in discussions about fictional settings or hypothetical scenarios, it does not exist as a recognized scientific category in real-world seismology.

Real-world geology uses the Finnish term maanjäristys for earthquakes; maanquakeihin is primarily a fictional or colloquial construct. When referenced outside fiction, it is usually metaphorical or humorous, signaling extreme or unprecedented tremors rather than a formal scientific classification.

See also maanjäristys, seismology, Finnish science fiction, disaster preparedness.