A dire warning, the first of its kind, has been issued after a chain of abnormal events.
The Japanese Meteorological Agency put out a megaquake alert over the increased risk of a devastating natural disaster.
The Thursday warning comes after powerful earthquakes were recorded in the Nankai Trough, a submarine fault just south of Japanese shores.
According to The Japan Times, earthquakes originating in or near the trough are known to typically be more destructive than others in the region.
The alert, which can be set at two levels of severity, was issued at the lower level on the same day as a 7.1 earthquake was recorded off the coast of Kyushu. Increased and abnormal tremors around the trough could signal a strong earthquake is coming.
A more powerful earthquake would trigger the higher-severity warning, leading to evacuations.
Video shows the violent shaking this most recent earthquake caused.
More footage of the powerful magnitude 7.1 earthquake that hit near Miyazaki, Japan 🇯🇵
▪︎ 8 August 2024 ▪︎#Japan #earthquake #JapanEarthquake pic.twitter.com/5qtzGsXrcc
— DISASTER TRACKER (@DisasterTrackHQ) August 8, 2024
Have you ever been in an earthquake?
Although the alert does not mean a major earthquake is certain, residents in the area are being made aware of the potential disaster that could be more likely by the day.
Japan’s meteorological agency was aware of the potential for major earthquakes near the Nankai Trough, but says the risk has greatly increased in recent weeks.
Previously, officials posted a 70 percent to 80 percent chance of a major earthquake within 30 years.
Massive earthquakes in the area are known to occur in cycles of roughly 100 years, with the most recent incident having occurred on December 21, 1946, thought to be a magnitude between 8.1 and 8.4.
If a magnitude 9 earthquake were to strike near the trough, it’s believed it could be as powerful as the 2011 quake and tsunami that pummeled Japan, leading to the Fukishima nuclear plant disaster.
This event caused the deaths of more than 15,000 people.
Assessments of past earthquakes gives a chilling hint at what a megaquake could do to the region.
The Japanese government predicts a Nankai Trough megaquake, and the tsunami that is spawned by it, could cause up to 224,000 deaths and bring vast destruction to the island’s southern coasts. This would undoubtedly be the worst natural disaster in recent memory and one of the deadliest in history.
According to Reuters, the megaquake predicted by monitors is expected to be as powerful as magnitude 9.1.
The Richter scale and its modern derivatives, which measure the magnitude of earthquakes, are delineated logarithmically — each whole number increase on this scale accounts for a tenfold increase in magnitude over the number before it.
Therefore, while the difference between a magnitude 3 and magnitude 4 might be imperceptible to someone walking down the street, the difference between a magnitude 8 and a magnitude 9 quake can mean hundreds of thousands of deaths.
