London, Dec. 12 (ANI): Scientists have claimed that the Earth could have been struck by many more huge earthquakes in its recent history than was previously thought, as a study has suggested that half of all quakes measuring more than 8.5 in magnitude that hit in the 19th Century are missing from records.
Dr Susan Hough from the US Geological Survey said if you try to make a statistical case there are too few earthquakes in the 19th Century, but records before the 20th Century are strangely devoid of natural disasters on this scale, the BBC reported.
Dr Hough, who believes that many large earthquakes in the 18th and 19th Century have been missed, explained that earthquakes started to look bigger after seismometers were developed around 1900.
Researchers use historical documents to track down seismic events that occurred before this and assess their magnitude.
They said that finding these lost earthquakes is vital to help them assess where and when these deadly events could strike next.
The findings were presented at the American Geophysical Union Fall meeting in San Francisco. (ANI)
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