Richter 10

Richter 10 is a 1996 science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke and Mike McQuay. The protagonist, Lewis Crane, develops a hatred of earthquakes after his parents are killed and his home destroyed by one when he is seven years old. He devises a way of predicting earthquakes months or years in advance, and eventually banishing them forever by stopping all tectonic activity. The book's title is a reference to the Richter scale, on which 10 was considered (when the scale was devised) to be the most power an earthquake was likely to ever have.