Another powerful earthquake accompanied with tidal waves may jolt Japan, head of the seismology laboratory at the Russian Academy of Sciences' Sea Geology and Geophysics Institute, Dr. Ivan Tikhonov said.
"The March 11 event in Japan was a mega-earthquake, which had an effect on the entire planet. No one was expecting such a catastrophic seismic event," he said.
The U.S. Geological Survey, the national center providing information about earthquakes, registered 170 aftershocks from five to seven points on the Richter scale the day after the main event. "None of the tremors measured higher than 7.2 points, and that was wrong. So I think we may expect an aftershock of eight points or more. It may happen in a week, a month or even later," the researcher said.
He recalled the Sumatra Andaman quake of 2004, which triggered an aftershock of 8.6 points and a vast tsunami three months later.
The aftershock is possible in the Honshu zone of about 470 kilometers, either south or north of it, he said.
Russian Academician Sergei Fedotov predicted the March 11 quake in Japan in 1971, but "he hardly expected a mega-event," he said.
