Tokyo, Aug 15: Japan is set to lift its week-old “megaquake” warning later today, according to Yoshifumi Matsumura, Minister of State for Disaster Management. The alert, issued after a magnitude 7.1 earthquake last Thursday, led to widespread anxiety, with thousands canceling holidays and stocking up on essentials, leaving store shelves bare.The warning followed a subduction megathrust quake along the Nankai Trough, a 800-kilometer undersea fault line stretching from Shizuoka, near Tokyo, to Kyushu’s southern tip. These types of quakes, known to occur in pairs, have historically triggered massive tsunamis.
The Nankai Trough has a grim history, with devastating earthquakes recorded in 1707, 1854, and in 1944 and 1946. The last event also triggered Mount Fuji’s most recent eruption. Experts estimate a 70 percent probability of another magnitude 8-9 megaquake striking the region within the next 30 years, which could potentially claim 300,000 lives and cause $13 trillion in damage.
Japan’s government issued the current warning under revised rules implemented after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, tsunami, and subsequent Fukushima nuclear disaster, which left around 18,500 people dead or missing. The 2011 catastrophe remains Japan’s worst post-war disaster and the world’s most severe nuclear accident since Chernobyl.
The government’s decision to lift the warning, despite the ongoing risks, underscores the delicate balance between public caution and daily life in one of the world’s most seismically active regions.