The Chorti Maya have a myth that the gods cause earthquakes: “Movements of the Chicchans [rain gods conceived as four great serpents] within the hills cause earthquakes; a tremor indicates the Chicchan is turning in his sleep, and a violent earthquake ensues if the Chicchan turns completely over to lie on his other side.”
In Maya creation mythology, earthquakes figure prominently in an epic of the earth’s destruction, a tradition that continues in Aztec mythology. The moving of the earth would be a tremendous portent, not to mention a terrifying physical experience.