The group argued that an atomic test there, near a geological fault line, could set off a devastating quake and a tidal wave.
As villagers struggled to come to terms with the loss of their world, estimates of the death toll from Thursday's devastating quake oscillated wildly.
Haiti is still recovering from the devastating 2010 quake, which killed an estimated 225,000 people.
Three months ago, a devastating quake killed more than 17,000 people in northwestern Turkey.
But it was one of the most devastating quakes ever to hit Europe, destroying dozens of castles and killing thousands of people.
In Tokyo, Wright's Imperial Hotel was virtually the only building left standing after a devastating 1923 quake.
After the devastating 9.0 quake of 11...
The latest devastating quake struck the central region of Abruzzo on 6 April 2009, killing some 294 people and leaving up to 17,000 homeless.
The government was accused of being slow to respond to the devastating quakes of 1999.
This was no devastating quake like those some of us recalled from years ago, when half the Shadowlands had been laid waste.