A 6.5 magnitude earthquake is expected to strike Israel and its surroundings in the coming years, a new study warned Monday.
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The study, conducted by Tel Aviv University researchers and published in the Science Advances journal, states that there exists a pattern of destructive earthquakes that hit the region every 130 to 150 years.
As the last one hit the region 93 years ago, the study claims that another should shake the Jewish state in the near future.
The 1927 Jericho earthquake measured at 6.2 on the Richter magnitude scale and was a devastating event that left 287 people dead and hundreds of others injured. The epicenter of the earthquake was in the northern area of the Dead Sea. The cities of Jerusalem, Jericho, Ramle, Tiberias, and Nablus sustained were heavily damaged in the quake.
In order to detect the pattern, the researchers have reviewed some 220,000 years of Dead Sea geology, including drilling and studying the seabed.
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"If we compare it to the number of people inhabiting these cities today, 100 years later, the population has grown by about two to three times," head of the Porter School of Environmental and Earth Sciences at Tel Aviv University, Prof. Shmuel Marco said.
"This means the number of casualties will be two to three times as much, not to mention the massive damages to infrastructure and property," he added.
This article was first published by i24NEWS.
