China has reminded its citizens in Japan to take precautions against earthquakes after a report warned that a megaquake could cause nearly 300,000 deaths.
The Japanese government is not in a position to comment on the Chinese warning, the Consulate-General of Japan in Hong Kong said in response to a Newsweek emailed inquiry.
Why It Matters
Last month, an earthquake task force formed by the Japanese government issued a risk assessment report, which estimated that up to 298,000 people could be killed in a Nankai Trough megaquake with a magnitude of 8-9, including 215,000 deaths caused by tsunami waves.
Earthquakes have struck the trough off the Japanese main island’s southern coastline every 100 to 150 years, with the last recorded in 1946. There is a 70-80 percent chance of a megaquake occurring within 30 years, the Japanese government estimated.
A 9.0-magnitude temblor struck Japan’s eastern coastline on March 11, 2011, becoming the largest earthquake ever recorded in the country. It triggered a tsunami and caused a nuclear accident, killing 19,729 people, with 2,559 still officially reported as missing.
What To Know
In an “important notice” issued on its website on Monday, the Chinese Embassy in Japan mentioned that a 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit the western end of the Nankai Trough in August last year, which prompted the Japanese government to issue a megaquake alert.
The embassy reminded Chinese citizens in Japan to enhance awareness and prepare accordingly, including gaining knowledge of “earthquake self-rescue,” as well as “appropriately stockpiling” emergency supplies such as water, food, and first aid supplies.
“Pay close attention to earthquake developments, weather warnings, and disaster prevention information through television, the internet, and radio,” it said.
The embassy also recommended Chinese citizens identify their nearest evacuation sites in advance and follow evacuation instructions issued by local governments. Shelters are often the “only place” to obtain basic necessities after a disaster occurs, it explained.
A man walks down a street in an area of the disaster-hit city of Suzu on January 11, 2024, after a 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck the Noto region in Ishikawa prefecture, Japan. A man walks down a street in an area of the disaster-hit city of Suzu on January 11, 2024, after a 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck the Noto region in Ishikawa prefecture, Japan. STR/JIJI Press/AFP via Getty Images
According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, a total of six earthquakes with a magnitude 2.5 or above were recorded in the 24 hours to 6 p.m. on Tuesday local time. The largest was a 4.8-magnitude temblor that hit off the east coast of the island of Hokkaido in northern Japan.
Japan is part of the “Ring of Fire” seismic belt at the outer edges of the Pacific Ocean, which exists along boundaries of tectonic plates that are slowly moving. About 81 percent of the world’s largest earthquakes occur in this region, according to the United States Geological Survey.
What People Are Saying
The Chinese Embassy in Japan said: “Taking all relevant factors into consideration, it is recommended to make safe arrangements for traveling and studying in Japan, and to carefully choose the purchase of real estate.”
Nobuo Fukuwa, professor emeritus at Nagoya University and a member of the Japanese government’s earthquake task force, said: “The biggest regret I have is that we failed in substantially reducing the scale of expected risks. Mitigating the scale of the damage is paramount, as the consequences of the Nankai Trough megaquake could be devastating enough to jeopardize our country’s future.”
What Happens Next
It remains to be seen whether other embassies will issue similar notices to their citizens in Japan. The number of visitors to the country continues to rise, with a record 3.26 million foreigners travelling to the Northeast Asian country in February, up 16.9 percent from a year earlier.
A legjobb élmény biztosítása érdekében olyan technológiákat használunk, mint a cookie-k az eszközadatok tárolására és/vagy eléréséhez. Ha beleegyezik ezekbe a technológiákba, akkor olyan adatokat dolgozhatunk fel ezen az oldalon, mint a böngészési viselkedés vagy az egyedi azonosítók. A hozzájárulás elmulasztása vagy visszavonása bizonyos funkciókat és funkciókat hátrányosan érinthet.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
