Sure enough, on February 4th an earthquake of 7.3 struck the region. Fortunately, a mass evacuation of over one million people had been enforced. Though thousands of buildings were destroyed, there was little loss of life. To predict a quake, geologists look for signs of deformation in the earth s surface. It is believed that large plates of the earth s outer crust are slowly moving over it s surface.
Geological faults exist where two plates come into contact.
Where one plate juts into another, the ground may be thrust upward. Where one plate slides past another, there may be a horizontal displacement of lines crossing the fault. However, such movements amount to only a few inches per year and so are not easy to detect. It would be wise to arrange for your family to sleep in an open space. If you have camping equipment, this would be a good time to put it to use.