A solar quake
Following a flare on 9 July '96, a solar quake on the solar surface was observed for the first time. It contained 40,000 times the energy released in the great earthquake that devastated San Francisco in 1906. In an hour, the waves traveled a distance ten times that of the Earth's diameter. The waves accelerated from 22,000 miles per hour to 250,000 miles per hour as they travelled outwards and disappeared into the photosphere.
 

A solar-quake following a large flare
 

Large flares can emit up to 10E32 ergs of energy. This energy is ten million times greater than the energy released from a volcanic explosion. On the other hand, it is less than one-tenth of the total energy emitted by the Sun every second.