This weekend's 6.4-magnitude earthquake in north-east Japan (Iwaka, 2011 July 31, 03.54 JDT) was coincident within less than half-a-degree with the New Moon.
Plate tectonics will determine where these events occur, gravitational effects from the Sun and Moon will very often trigger them. It's at this point that astronomy and astrology merge and both subsume to the laws of physics.