Example: A 4.5 earthquake will do more damage if the waves move faster than the speed of sound. How? Just like a plane causes sonic booms when surpassing the speed of sound, so will the waves underground caused by the earthquake. It's bad enough you get all the shaking from the movement, but now you have like bombs going off underground too.
This can only happen along the fault. And it would cause sonic booms underground making the earthquake more damaging in the areas where this happens. This is why some areas can receive a lot more damage than others along the same area where the earthquake occurs. Because the sonic booms, caused by waves moving at the speed of sound, cannot be maintained through out the whole fault line while the earthquake is happening.
Just thought you guys might like to know
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