PARIS, Feb. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- Experts said the earthquakes that hit eastern France on Monday evening and northeastern Morocco on Tuesday morning are not directly linked even though both were caused by movements of the Euro-Asian tectonic plate and the African plate.

    "Though resulting from the same force, the one was not triggered by the other. They are independent in time and space," Pascal Dominique, seismographic engineer of France's Geological and Mining Research Bureau, was quoted by French daily Le Figaro as saying on Wednesday.

    The French quake was estimated at 5.1 on the Richter scale but hurt no-one and caused no damage to property. In Morocco, however, the death toll from Tuesday's quake near the Mediterranean port city of Al Hoceima has so far reached over 560.

    The expert said the two plates normally move about 1 to 2 cm each year, sometimes more and sometimes less. An earthquake happens when there is a "catching-up" of the movements.

    "The Moroccan coast is situated on the borders of the two plates, that's why the tension and compression registered there have been stronger than those in France," Dominique said. The quake in Morocco was estimated at 6.0 to 6.5 on the Richter scale.

    Jerome Van der Woerd, a researcher at France's National Center of Scientific Research, agrees with Dominique, saying there is no causality link between the two quakes, though they are both of the same origin.

    He also believes the quake in Morocco is probably a combination of two forces -- the closing of the north-south axis and the divergence of the east-west axis.

    The Mediterranean is a complex seismic zone where the sea is being closed by a convergence of the African and the Euro-Asian plates whose recent movements have been stronger towards the north than towards the west of the Mediterranean basin, he said.

    In the Algerian region, a closure of 6mm between the African and the Euro-Asian plates is registered each year. In the powerful quake that hit Algeria last May, killing more than 2,300 people, the African plate was found to have lifted by at least 50cm to overlap the Euro-Asian plate, the researcher said.

    Recent earthquakes have caused alarm in France. The newspaper Le Figaro ran front-page reports on Wednesday warning of France's poor state of preparation against major quake disasters.

    "One day or another, a quake of large magnitude will hit France...If no measures are taken, 60 to 70 percent of buildings in France would have no paraseismic protection," the reports said.

    Van der Woerd said that although earthquakes tend to occur within defined zones around the world, they remain random phenomena. The forces that cause earthquakes are generally hidden.

    "The prediction of earthquakes remains a domain of research. It cannot be useful unless it is 100 percent reliable. We are now far from reaching that level," he said.

    However, it is up to governments to take disaster prevention measures and rescue planning, said the scientist.

    Van der Woerd said Tuesday's quake near Al Hoceima hit very "superficially" with an epicenter at a depth of only 2 km, which resulted in disastrous consequences.

    "The quality of buildings near Besancon is superior to those inAl Hoceima," he said. The epicenter of Monday's quake was about 20 km from Besancon in eastern France.

    France suffers regular earthquakes in the western and southern region, though most are weak in intensity. Enditem