A leading Japanese expert on earthquakes said yesterday that prediction of a deadly tremor, such as the one that rocked Central America at the weekend, remains impossible despite huge efforts using modern technology.
Saturday's earthquake in El Salvador came as a sobering reminder of Japan's own vulnerability just days before the sixth anniversary of the Kobe earthquake.
That earthquake, which devastated one of Japan's most elegant cities in the early hours of January 17th, 1995, measured 7.2 on the Richter scale. More than 6,000 people were killed in the tremor and subsequent fires that swept the city.
Experts have warned that an earthquake of around 8.0 could strike central Japan at any time.