One of the ways in which HAARP is thought to work is similar to firing a cap gun in an avalanche area. The snow is built up, ready to collapse and even the slightest disturbance causes an avalanche. That's one way that HAARP works. In key areas where seismic pressures are ready to shift, HAARP bombards the already sensitive area with an incredible amount of energy in the form of a beam that reflects off the ionosphere. The earth's tectonic plates vibrate and an earthquake results.