Ukrainian scientist rejects report of possible earthquake in Ukraine in near future
There is no way to predict earthquakes, and reports that Romanian scientists have forecast possible earthquakes on the territory of Ukraine are erroneous.

Ukrainian scientist rejects report of possible earthquake in Ukraine in near future

Mar 22, 2010 at 15:49 | Interfax-Ukraine
Deputy Director of the Institute of Geophysics at the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Oleksandr Kendzera has said there is no way to predict earthquakes, and reports that Romanian scientists have forecast possible earthquakes on the territory of Ukraine are erroneous.

"Nowhere in the world is there a reliable procedure through which it is possible to forecast the time of a possible earthquake," Kendzera said.

According to the Ukrainian scientist, currently it is impossible to forecast the time of earthquakes, and recent reports of a seismic threat are false.

Kendzera said that there are only 38 seismic stations in Ukraine. He said it was impossible to describe all of the seismic zones on the country's territory.

"However, we have one zone which is non-typical, and its activity in fact affects the entire territory of the country, and even Moscow and Saint Petersburg. This is the Vranch zone. There are only three such zones in the world. One of them is near our borders, on the territory of Romania, near the Carpathian Mountains, where the Eastern Carpathians change into the Southern Carpathians," he said.

The scientist added that this zone "is constantly active" with earthquakes occurring frequently.

"Proceeding from the statistic data, the average period of a recurrence of a [large] earthquake is about 27-31 years," he said.

According to the scientist, the last earthquake on this territory took place in 1990, and so another could occur in the near future.