earthquake vs commotion

earthquake and commotion both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
earthquake	Yes	No	No	No
commotion	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, commotion is a hypernym of earthquake; that is, commotion is a word with a broader meaning than earthquake:

Other hypernyms of earthquake include disruption, disturbance, flutter, hoo-ha, hoo-hah, hurly burly, kerfuffle, to-do.

earthquake (noun)	commotion (noun)
shaking and vibration at the surface of the earth resulting from underground movement along a fault plane or from volcanic activity	the act of making a noisy disturbance
a disturbance that is extremely disruptive	confused movement
	a disorderly outburst or tumult