Study Helps PredictBig Mediterranean Quake

Scientists havefound evidence that an overlooked fault in the eastern Mediterraneanis likely to produce an earthquake and tsunami every 800 years as powerful asthe one

that destroyed Alexandria in AD 365.

2.Using radiocarbondating techniques,simulations and computer models,the researchers recreated theancient disaster in order to identify the responsible fault."We are saying

there is probably arepeat time of 800 years for this kind of earthquake,"said Ms Beth Shaw,anearthquake scientist at the University of Cambridge,who led thestudy.

Scientists studypast earthquakes in order to deter-mine the future possibility of similar largeshocks.

3.Identifying thefault for the AD 365 earthquake and tsunami is important for the tens ofmillions of people in the region,Ms.Shaw said.The fault close to the southwestcoast

of Crete lastproduced a big enough quake to generate a tsunami about 1300,which means thenext powerful one could come in the next 100 years,she added in a telephone

interview.

4.Ms.Shaw and hercolleagues calculate the likely intervals by measuring the motion of eitherside of the fault to find how often such large earthquakes would have to occur

to account for thatlevel of motion,she said.Their computer model suggested an 8 magnitude quake onthe fault would pro-duce a tsunami that floods the coastal regions of

Alexandria and NorthAfrica,the southern coast of Greece and Sicily all the way up the Adriati toDubrovnik.This would be similar to the ancient quake in AD 365 that

caused widespreaddestruction in much of Greeceand unleashed a tsunami that flooded Alexandriaand the Nile Delta likely killing tens of thousands of people,she said.The fault,which wasoverlooked before,has been closely studied by scientists.

A.Right

B.Wrong

C.Not mentioned