March 29, 2005
UK Telegraph

An expert warned the quake off Sumatra made another massive earthquake in the region more likely.

Professor John McCloskey predicted in the wake of the Boxing Day earthquake and tsunami that there was a likelihood of two more quakes in the region.

The University of Ulster based Geophysics expert, who studies earthquake dynamics said: "The location of the latest quake is exactly were we warned it would be.

"We said there were two locations off Sumatra where the stresses had been increased by the Boxing Day earthquake and were likely to indicate another earthquake.

"From the information we have received it looks as if this is one of them this will be confirmed in the next few hours. We were concerned about two events and it looks like this is one of them."

Ominously he warned that the latest quake is likely to have added to the stresses on the earth's crust at the second site he was worried about and make a third massive quake a reality.

"It seems to me that this earthquake will also increase the stresses on the other site and make another quake more likely."

The fault line for the other site "runs right through the city of Banda Aceh" on the northern tip of Sumatra, he said.

The study of data over night would detail whether he was right. "We will be doing comparisons of stress levels over the next 12 hours," he said.

However he said the region might have avoided another devastating tsunami this time. "If it was going to happen it would have happened by now and there has been no such news. We may have been lucky this time. The site of the latest quake would send a tsunami south into the Indian Ocean not towards India a Sri Lanka."

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