Russia’s Far East faces future of powerful earthquakes
View of coastal rock formation, 'The Drinking Man', Urup Island. Source: ALamy / Legion Media Scientists monitoring seismic activity off the coast of Russia’s Far East in the Pacific Ocean have come to a disturbing conclusion. Deadly earthquakes may strike the region as soon as 2016. In recent years virtually no seismic activity has been recorded in the area of Russia's Kuril Islands and the Kamchatka Peninsula, as well as Hokkaido Island (Japan). As strange as this sounds, Russian seismologists find this worrying. “The past year, as well as the six preceding years, was incredibly calm in terms of seismic activity,’’ Ivan Tikhonov, head of the seismology laboratory at the Institute of Marine Geology and Geophysics, told RBTH. “Such a quiet spell can only mean that enormous amounts of energy have accumulated below the surface, and this pent-up energy can set off several powerful earthquakes. We expect these tremors to occur over the next 18 months.’’ Is disast