Monster Earthquake Threat

The string of earthquakes that spawned tsunami warnings in Sumatra over the past two weeks could just be the prelude to an even bigger quake, a top geologist told the Singapore Straits Times.

The repeated stress could further destabilize the juncture of two volatile plates on the Earth's crust, triggering a magnitude 9 or 10 earthquake, according to California Institute of Technology professor Kerry Sieh, quoted in the article.

Such a monster could be decades off, but any time a cluster of earthquakes occurs, the chance increases. As this image from the U.S. Geologic Survey illustrates, the region has been rocked by an extraordinary number of earthquakes in the last few days.

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