The aim of this study was to investigate students’ conceptions of causes, processes and consequences of earthquakes and to examine their geographical understanding of such hazards in terms of spatial and societal-nature relations. Data consists of 134 responses from 12 to 13-year-old students who had completed an assignment in the Swedish national test in geography (2013). The responses were analysed using content and thematic analyses. Data was complemented with interviews. Results show that many students hold alternative conceptions of processes causing earthquakes at different plate boundaries, and why poor societies are more severely affected by earthquakes than rich societies. Furthermore, results show that students have a limited understanding of the extent and location of earthquakes in the world. We conclude that instruction aiming to develop students’ understanding of earthquakes as a geographical phenomenon and hazard may integrate map-reasoning skills with examples that support contextual thinking. We also suggest that in order to develop students’ relational thinking on society and nature, instruction can utilise the concept of “capital”. Furthermore, teaching needs to take in to account and design instruction to meet students’ alternative conceptions that societal consequences of earthquakes are solely predetermined by natural factors such as climate or heat.