Scientists in Japan warn of possible ‘major earthquake’ in wake of magnitude 7.1 quake

TOKYO – A powerful magnitude 7.1 earthquake rocked parts of Japan on Thursday, prompting officials to issue a Tsunami Advisory that forced residents to flee to higher ground for safety, and scientists are now warning that an even bigger earthquake could occur in the same region in the coming days.

Officials in Japan held an emergency meeting in the wake of Thursday’s earthquake and tsunami threat and urged residents to be prepared to take immediate action should a major earthquake occur.

According to information from the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), out of 1,437 earthquakes of magnitude 7.0 or larger that struck between 1904 and 2014, there were six cases in which a magnitude 8.0 or larger occurred in the same region within seven days.

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That data, the JMA said, includes a magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck two days before a catastrophic magnitude 9.0 earthquake and Pacific-wide tsunami that rocked the region in March 2011.

The JMA said that in global cases, the frequency of a magnitude 8.0 or larger earthquake occurring within the same region within seven days after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake is “about once in several hundred times.”

“For these reasons, it is believed that the possibility of a large-scale earthquake occurring in the expected focal area of the Nankai Trough is relatively higher than usual,” the JMA said on its website.

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Thursday’s earthquake occurred off the southern coast of the island of Kyushu, shaking communities across the region and sending tsunami waves nearly 2 feet high onshore.

The Tsunami Advisory that was issued has since been lifted, but the JMA said there could still be slight sea-level changes as a result of the earthquake.

After the earthquake, scientists met to discuss the relationship between this quake and whether it had impacted the Nankai Trough, which sits about 560 miles offshore.

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“Nankai Trough earthquakes are diverse, and the focal area of a large-scale earthquake may be limited to the area around (Thursday’s) earthquake, or it may extend to the entire Nankai Trough,” the JMA said.

If a major earthquake occurs, the JMA said strong shaking would be expected over a large area of Japan from the Kanto Region to the Kyushu Region and would be capable of producing a “large tsunami” along the Pacific coast from the Kanto Region to the Okinawa Region.

“Please take disaster prevention measures in accordance with future calls from the government and local government,” the JMA said. “The Japan Meteorological Agency will continue to carefully monitor the progress of crustal activity along the Nankai Trough.”

Information in this story was translated from Japanese to English via Google Translate