According to this article in the New Scientist, the great earthquake that happened in Asia this past December, spawning the tremendously devastating tsunamis, has primed the Indian Ocean for another large earthquake. When an earthquake occurs in such a subduction zone, where one plate slips under another, it is often followed by another, in addition to the aftershocks. For example, on the Nankai subduction zone to the south-east of Japan, five of the last seven major quakes were followed within five years by major earthquakes along an adjoining segment of the fault, and three of those occurred within a year.
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