Does an earthquake begins at the epicenter?

The epicenter is the point on the earth's surface directly vertically above the hypocenter (or focus) point in the crust where a seismic rupture begins.

The epicenter is only "far from the center" on very deeply centered earthquakes where the hypocenter (or focus) point in the crust is very far from the surface. Many earthquakes are shallow.

The depth of the hypocenter (or focus) point can be categorized as shallow (up to 70 km or 43.5 miles below the surface), intermediate (70 to 300 km), or deep (greater than 300 km or 186 miles).