Fear, Revived

Listen to Today's Edition:

A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck off the coast of the southern Japanese island of Kyushu Thursday, prompting authorities to issue tsunami alerts and its first-ever warning of a “megaquake” from a nearby submarine trough, the Washington Post reported.

The Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA) said the quake occurred at a depth of nearly 19 miles, far beneath the ocean floor, and was felt in the city of Nichinan and nearby areas. Officials reported at least nine people were injured, but there were no reports of serious damage or fatalities.

The JMA issued a tsunami alert with an expected height of 3.3 feet but cautioned that waves could grow rapidly. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida urged residents to remain prepared for potential evacuations and emphasized the government’s high alert status, the New York Times added.

Japan Rail suspended bullet train services as a precaution. Meanwhile, the Kyushu Electric Power Company confirmed that nuclear power plants in the region were operating normally.

Amid fears of tsunamis, the JMA warned of a potential “Nankai Trough megaquake” after a probe into the Thursday quake’s links to the subsea trough. It added that the possibility of a large-scale earthquake occurring in the trough is now considered “relatively higher than usual” for the following week.

Earthquakes in the Nankai Trough occur approximately every 100-150 years. The last one was in December 1946, with a magnitude 8.1 quake killing more than 1,300 people and causing widespread damage.

In January, Japan’s Earthquake Research Committee estimated a 70 to 80 percent chance of a magnitude 8.0 to 9.0 earthquake occurring in the Nankai Trough within the next 30 years.

Japan is highly prone to earthquakes because it sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire. The country records about 1,500 earthquakes annually that are felt by people.

Memories of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, which resulted in nearly 20,000 deaths and a nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, remain vivid to many Japanese. So do the 2004 earthquake that led to the Indian Ocean tsunami, which killed as many as 230,000 people across 14 countries.

Elsewhere, in Canada, the US-based National Tsunami Warning Center reported no tsunami threats for British Columbia following Thursday’s earthquake, the Canadian Press wrote.