Does Numbers 16 describe the first earthquake? Numbers 16 describes the Levites revolting against Moses and Aaron. In proving the Lord sent him to do all those things, Moses said 


  "But if the Lord brings about something totally new, and the earth
  opens its mouth and swallows them...you will know that these men have
  treated the Lord with contempt. As soon as he finished saying all
  this, the ground under them split apart and the earth opened its mouth
  and swallowed them...the earth closed over them, and they perished and
  were gone from the community." Numbers 16:30-33


It sounds like "something totally new" was an earthquake causing the ground to split. Is there any evidence for or against this?
Maybe, maybe not.  Consider Job 9:6.


  Job 9:6 (DRA)
   6 Who shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble.
  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 


Job is supposed to have lived around the time of Abraham, quite a while before the events that took place in numbers. Even if you consider Job to be a tall tale, its origin in oral tradition might suggest that Earthquakes are not new.

Earthquakes as a means of disposing with traitors to the faith, well that's different than flooding the Earth, and something new in God's revelation.

But alas, there is nothing new under the sun.