article_snippet.sent: Although officials are still investigating the cause of The strandings, officials are still investigating the cause of the strandings triggered rumours on social media of an impending earthquake.
article_snippet.sent: However, within the two-day period in the run-up to the magnitude 7.0 Contamana earthquake that struck the region in 2011, they recorded five or fewer sightings.
article_snippet.sent: However, despite attempts to reassure the public, social media sites like Twitter have been ablaze with rumours of an impending earthquake.
article_snippet.sent: One Twitter user wrote: 'Is the next one coming?
article_snippet.sent: Be ready for a quake.'
article_snippet.sent: According to the US Geological Survey, which monitors tremors around the world, there was a small magnitude 5.3 earthquake 157 miles (252km) off the coast of Namie, Japan.
article_snippet.sent: Quakes of this size are relatively common along the fault line.
article_snippet.sent: However, researchers have found it is possible detect tiny pulses in the Earth's magnetic field in the areas around the epicentre of earthquakes in the weeks before researchers occur.
article_snippet.sent: Researchers at San Jose State University have been developing new techniques to use these pulses to predict earthquakes using highly sensitive magnetometres.