  The remarkable null pulse coincident with the 2016 glitch in Vela rotation
indicates a dynamical event involving the crust and the magnetosphere of the
neutron star. We propose that a crustal quake associated with the glitch
strongly disturbed the Vela magnetosphere and thus interrupted its radio
emission. We present the first global numerical simulations of a neutron
starquake. Our code resolves the elasto-dynamics of the entire crust and
follows the evolution of Alfv\'en waves excited in the magnetosphere. We
observe Rayleigh surface waves propagating away from the epicenter of the
quake, around the circumference of the crust - an instance of the so-called
whispering gallery modes. The Rayleigh waves set the initial spatial scale of
the magnetospheric disturbance. Once launched, the Alfv\'en waves bounce in the
closed magnetosphere, become de-phased, and generate strong electric currents,
capable of igniting electric discharge. Most likely, the discharge floods the
magnetosphere with electron-positron plasma, quenching the radio emission. We
find that the observed $\sim 0.2$ s disturbance is consistent with the damping
time of the crustal waves if the crust is magnetically coupled to the
superconducting core of the neutron star. The quake is expected to produce a
weak X-ray burst of short duration.
