There had been no minor quakes in the area around the epicenter of the 7.8-magnitude earthquake in southwest China's Sichuan Province before the strong earthquake took place on May 12.

Therefore, earthquake forecast could not be achieved, said a senior official of the Sichuan Provincial Seismological Bureau on Friday.

He said no typical earthquake precursors were detected in the short period before May 12 and the activity level of quakes around the area was reported low.

(Xinhua News Agency May 16, 2008)