Editorial

15:33 JST, April 2, 2025

There is a larger risk that a Nankai Trough earthquake, once it occurs, could cause unprecedented damage. It is essential for each member of the public to have a concrete image of what the earthquake could actually be like, and to use this picture in their disaster prevention measures.

The government has compiled a new estimate of damage for a possible megaquake originating in the Nankai Trough, which stretches from off the coast of Shizuoka Prefecture down to off the coast of Miyazaki Prefecture. A wide area along the Pacific coast would be hit by a tremor measuring a maximum 7 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale, and a tsunami would reach over 30 meters at its highest point.

If the earthquake occurs when multiple conditions are concurrently met, such as late on a winter night when many people are at home, and therefore........

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