KUALA LUMPUR – The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) has issued a “mega earthquake” warning after eight people were injured by yesterday’s 7.1 magnitude tremor in the country’s south.
This is the first time ever that the agency has issued such an advisory.
Due to this, Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida today cancelled his trip to Central Asia. He was due to travel to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Mongolia and planned to attend a regional summit, AFP reported.
“As the prime minister with the highest responsibility for crisis management, I decided I should stay in Japan for at least a week,” he told reporters.
Kishida acknowledged that the public must be feeling “very anxious” after JMA issued its first advisory under a new system established after a major 9.0 magnitude earthquake in 2011 which triggered a deadly tsunami and nuclear disaster.
“The likelihood of a new major earthquake is higher than normal, but this is not an indication that a major earthquake will definitely occur,” the agency added.
Yesterday, Kyushu was hit by a major tremor, shaking cars and causing dishes to fall off shelves, but no serious damage was reported.
However, according to AFP, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency has identified eight injured people – including several hit by falling objects.
The Japanese archipelago of 125 million people sees some 1,500 quakes every year, most of them minor as it sits on top of four major tectonic plates.
However, with advanced building techniques and well-practised emergency procedures, the impact of the large tremors could generally be contained.
The government has previously said a megaquake has a roughly 70% probability of striking within the next 30 years.
It could affect a large swath of the Pacific coastline of Japan and threaten an estimated 300,000 lives in the worst-case scenario, experts say. – August 9, 2024