“Observe animals and the world around you. If you notice a range of precursors, make sure you’re prepared for an earthquake... Even minor preparations can reduce injury and damage. If nothing happens, then you can be glad."

Legends of unusual behaviour of animals before earthquakes have been around for centuries in eathquake-prone regions of the world. In the modern world many people will say they believe animals sense something before earthquakes, they just don't know what.

Professor Motoji Ikeya believed he did know what they were reacting to and spent years testing his theories in his Osaka University laboratory where he was Professor of its Earth and Space Science Department from 1991 until his retirement 13 years later.

Professor Ikeya believed that many earthquake legends and modern reports could be explained scientifically.

"Atmospheric disturbances and a lot of the behaviour of animals, electronic objects and household appliances - even plants - before earthquakes are electromagnetic events that can be reproduced in a laboratory," he said. He cautiously coined a new field of research: Electromagnetic seismology.

Although Professor Ikeya's views met with scientific scepticism at the time, results since from the DEMETER satellite and ground observations have confirmed that electromagnetic (EM) waves are statistically connected with large earthquakes, confirming much of the work that Professor Ikeya started.