Lethal earthquakes are common in Turkey, which lies on the North Anatolian fault, and the nation constantly fears another devastating earthquake.

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More to the point, it is possible that some of this power might be released before a fault moves catastrophically, and thus provide some warning of an earthquake.

ECONOMIST: Predicting earthquakes

Fan Xiao, chief engineer at the Sichuan Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, told Global Times on Monday that the huge pressure of large reservoirs built on the fault line may have induced the Ya'an earthquakes and the more powerful Wenchuan earthquake in 2008.

BBC: China media: Quake donations debate

Basically, this would be like a developer who is building homes along a fault line and only tests the durability of the construction up to a level 4.0 (light) earthquake when there is a decent probability that an 8.0 (major) may hit.

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