After 1,000 earthquakes, the authorities evacuated the inhabitants of an island in a country that prepares for a “mega-seism”
Yasurahama port on the island of Akuseki in Toshima village, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan, on June 1, 2019. Photo: Tosei Kisanuki / AP / Profimedia
Japan asked the 89 inhabitants of a small island in the south of the country to evacuate the area after a violent earthquake produced on Thursday, the most recently in a series of over 1,000 earthquakes registered in less than two weeks in that region, writes AFP.
The locals were urged to go to the “courtyard of a school on Akuseki Island,” a municipal official said. The evacuation order came after a earthquake with magnitude 5.5 produced on Thursday near Akuseki Island. On Wednesday, a earthquake with the same magnitude was recorded in the area, according to Agerpres.
Akuseki Island is part of the Tokara archipelago, south of the Kyushu region, which has been shaken by over 1,031 earthquakes starting June 21.
No major material damage were reported.
Unusual wave of earthquakes in an area where earthquakes are not out of the ordinary. People can't sleep
Seven of the 12 isolated islands of the Tokara Archipelago are inhabited and totalize about 700 inhabitants.
“In the areas where the earthquakes were strong, the risk of collapse of houses and landslides is increased,” warned Ayataka Ebita, director of the Earth Earthquakes and Tsunamis observation division (JMA).
“Pay attention to earthquakes with a similar magnitude in the near future,” he added.
According to this Japanese official, there is no risk of tsunami following Thursday's earthquake.
A similar period of intense seismic activity occurred in the Tokara region in September 2023, when 346 earthquakes were registered, according to JMA.
Japan is one of the most active countries in the world from a seismic point of view, being located at the confluence of four major tectonic plates, along the western edge of the “Pacific Fire Circle”.
The Japanese archipelago, which houses a population of 125 million inhabitants, usually faces about 1,500 earthquakes per year, representing 18% of the total earthquakes produced worldwide.
On Tuesday, the Japanese government has presented a new up-to-date preparation plan for disaster population, saying that there are still many things to do to limit the consequences of a possible “mega-cut”, likely to make up to 300,000 dead in this country.
Japanese authorities are concerned especially because of a possible major earthquake in Nankai fossa, a submarine depression that extends 800 kilometers along the Japanese ribs to the Pacific Ocean. Such earthquakes take place every 100 – 200 years, on average, the most recent dating from 1946.
In January, a government committee revealed that the probability of a major earthquake occur in this region in the next 30 years is 75%-82%.
Then, in March, the Tokyo government published a new estimate, according to which such a earthquake, followed by a tsunami, could kill 298,000 people and would cause material damage of 1,680 billion euros.
The announcements of the Japanese government came in a period when unjustified fears distributed on social networks discouraged some of the foreign tourists to come to Japan this summer: the main cause was a re-edited manga that predicted a major catastrophe on July 5, 2025.
“We know that such stories are circulating on the Internet, but this is a farce,” said Ayataka Ebita, from JMA. “With today's science and technology, it is not possible to predict earthquakes,” he added.
In 2011, a magnitude with 9.0 magnitude triggered a tsunami who made 18,500 dead and missing and caused a devastating merger reaction in the Fukushima nuclear power plant reactor.
