Advanced building techniques and well-practiced emergency procedures help to contain the impact even in larger tremors.
Following the injuries caused by a magnitude 7.1 earthquake in the south of Japan on Thursday, eight people have been warned by the country’s earthquake scientists that a “megaquake” may be imminent.
The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) stated, “A new major earthquake is more likely than normal, but this is not an indication that a major earthquake will definitely occur.”
It was the first warning sent out under the new framework that was created in the wake of a significant earthquake in 2011.
Regarding a report by broadcaster NHK that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will postpone his trip to Central Asia until Friday in response to the warning, a government spokesman chose not to comment.
The earthquake that struck the southern island of Kyushu on Thursday caused traffic lights, cars, and dishes to topple off shelves, but no significant damage was reported.
According to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency, eight people were injured, multiple of whom were struck by falling objects.
The 125 million-person Japanese archipelago, which sits atop four major tectonic plates, experiences about 1,500 earthquakes annually, the most of which are minor.
Advanced building techniques and well-practiced emergency procedures help to contain the impact even in larger tremors.
According to earlier government estimates, there is a roughly 70% chance that a megaquake will occur within the next 30 years.
In the worst-case scenario, experts predict that it could threaten an estimated 300,000 lives and impact a significant portion of Japan’s Pacific coastline.
“Risk is low, but elevated.”
According to experts from Earthquake Insights, “although earthquake prediction is impossible, the occurrence of one earthquake usually does raise the likelihood of another.”
Nonetheless, they stated that the chance of a second earthquake is “still always low” even in situations where it is elevated.
At least 318 people were killed when a 7.6-magnitude earthquake and strong aftershocks struck the Noto Peninsula on the coast of the Sea of Japan on January 1. The earthquake also destroyed roads and buildings.
The massive 9.0 magnitude undersea earthquake that struck northeastern Japan in 2011 caused a tsunami that killed or left about 18,500 people missing.
It caused the most catastrophic nuclear accident since Chernobyl and the worst post-war disaster in Japan by sending three reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant into meltdown.
The massive Nankai Trough off the coast of eastern Japan is a potential source of a future megaquake. Major earthquakes with magnitudes of eight or nine have occurred there in the past, usually in pairs.
This included the last known eruption of Mount Fuji, which occurred in 1707 and lasted until 2011. There were also two more eruptions in 1944 and 1946.
