- Japan worries about mega earthquakes after strong shaking
An earthquake of magnitude 7.1 has shaken southwestern Japan. Following a corresponding warning from the Meteorological Agency, tidal waves up to one meter high were recorded along the southwestern coast of the main island of Kyushu. There were initially no reports of casualties or major damage.
However, the agency issued a warning that the risk of a megaquake in the Nankai Trough is now higher than usual. This is a deep-sea trench that stretches for about 900 kilometers off the coast of the eastern island nation, from the prefecture of Shizuoka on the main island of Honshu, where the capital Tokyo is located, to Kyushu. The region has experienced earthquakes repeatedly, most recently in 1946. Today, a megaquake in the Nankai Trough and a subsequent tsunami would cause devastating damage to the island nation. In January, the government's Earthquake Research Committee predicted a 70 to 80 percent chance of a magnitude 8.0 to 9.0 earthquake near the Nankai Trough in the next 30 years. In the worst-case scenario, Tokyo and other major cities would also be affected.
Following the triple disaster in March 2011, when a magnitude 9 earthquake triggered a massive tsunami that killed nearly 20,000 people and caused a nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan's seismologists are paying particular attention to the Nankai Trough. It is feared that the consequences of a megaquake in the zone would be even more severe than in 2011. The earthquake on Thursday occurred at a depth of about 30 kilometers off the coast of Miyazaki prefecture. High-speed train services were temporarily disrupted by the tremors.
The earthquake experienced on Thursday in Miyazaki prefecture was reminiscent of the devastating earthquakes that have occurred in the Nankai Trough region, where Tokyo, the country's capital, is located. If a megaquake were to occur in this trench, the consequences could potentially be as severe as the 2011 triple disaster, which included a magnitude 9 earthquake, a tsunami, and a nuclear disaster in Fukushima.
