Seismologists said Chile should prepare for a massive and destructive earthquake sometime in the near future due to the stress on two tectonic plates in the region.

Chile's tectonic plates have been strained over the past two decades. There was an earthquake last April that rocked the region.

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Data gathered suggest it was not powerful enough to remove the threat of a very big destructive earthquake in the future, researchers said. They have cautioned that a magnitude 9 quake is due to arrive soon.

Chile is no stranger to earthquakes as it is located between the Nazca and South American tectonic plates. The two plates subduct each other.

Subduction is a process in which one tectonic plate slides under another one. The subducting plates could potentially spawn a massive quake.

The most powerful earthquake in history was a 9.5 magnitude quake recorded at Valdivia, Chile in 1960. The event destroyed the homes of two million people and caused the deaths of 1,655 others.

Seismologists are anticipating northern Chile to be the origin of another high-magnitude quake as the last prominent earthquake occurred here in 1877. The quake had a magnitude of 8.8 and caused a 79-foot tsunami that crossed the Pacific Ocean and killed people in Hawaii and Japan.

Researchers have gathered and analyzed data about earthquakes that occurred in the region over the past 500 years.

They've come to the conclusion that massive quakes in Chile occur every 111 years. Since the last earthquake happened in 1877, the region should be anticipating another devastating quake soon.

Although there was a magnitude 8.2 earthquake in the region in April, seismologists said the stress on the tectonic plates was not relieved.

The earthquake that occurred on April Fool's day killed six people, generated a 6.5-foot tsunami and caused about US$100 million in property damage.

Tagsearthquake, Tectonic plates, Tsunami, Chile, south america, Geology