Around 130 million people in Mediterranean coastal areas are at risk of a devastating tsunami, which could be triggered by even a moderate earthquake.

Scientists have found that a tsunami resulting from a magnitude 7 earthquake beneath Sicily or Crete would see Italy, Greece and Libya all hit by the waves.

Their computer simulation found that low-lying areas - up to five metres above sea level - would be swamped by the waves and up to 1.35 sq miles of Crete would be left completely underwater.

The Mediterranean experiences a large tsunami once a century on average and in 1908, thousands of people died when a magnitude seven quake hit Messina in Italy. Waves of up to 10 metres hit the coast.

The island of Crete saw similar devastation in 365 AD, when earthquakes off the coast resulted in a tsunami that destroyed most cities in Crete, along with many in Italy, Egypt and Greece. In Alexandria alone, 5,000 people were killed.

Dr Achilleas Samaras, from the University of Bologna, led the computer modelling study and said: "Although the simulated earthquake-induced tsunamis are not small, there has been a recorded history of significantly larger events, in terms of earthquake magnitude and main shock areas, taking place in the region.

"We wanted to find out how coastal areas would be affected by tsunamis in a region that is not only the most active in the Mediterranean in terms of seismicity and tectonic movements, but has also experienced numerous tsunami events in the past." 

The study appears in the journal Ocean Science.