Himalayan mega-quake?

A colossal reservoir of energy stored up under the Tibetan plateau has been discovered – and it can only be fully released by mega-earthquakes striking about every 1000 years, researchers have found.

...Large earthquakes registering between magnitude 7.5 and 8.2 tap into this reservoir but do not deplete it, the researchers have determined. Instead, every 1000 years or so, a mega-earthquake of magnitude 8.4 to 8.6 "is essential to drain the reservoir", says lead researcher Roger Bilham of the University of Colorado, US.

Historical records show that three such mega-quakes have devastated the Himalaya in the Middle Ages. In 1100 Eastern Nepal was hit. Bilham and his colleague Nicole Feldl's prediction suggests the region has a higher than thought risk of another mega-quake in the future, though it cannot be predicted when.

In fact, an 8.2 event killed 13,000 people in 1934. But Bilham says this was not enough to empty the reservoir, implying the region is not safe from another, far deadlier event.