Seismic loading

Seismic loading is one of the basic concepts of earthquake engineering which means application of an earthquake-generated agitation to a structure. It happens at contact surfaces of a structure either with the ground, or with adjacent structures, or with gravity waves from tsunami.
Seismic loading depends, primarily, on:

Anticipated earthquake's parameters at the site – known as seismic hazard
Geotechnical parameters of the site
Structure's parameters
Characteristics of the anticipated gravity waves from tsunami.

Sometimes, seismic load exceeds ability of a structure to resist it without being broken, partially or completely Due to their mutual interaction, seismic loading and seismic performance of a structure are intimately related.