In the event of a long-awaited megaquake off Japan’s Pacific coast, which could cause devastating tsunamis, the collapse of hundreds of buildings, and the potential death of about 300,000 people, according to a government report released on Monday ( Mar 31 ).
The Cabinet Office report showed that the expected economic damage of 270.3 trillion yen, or nearly half of the country’s total gross domestic product ( GDP ), increased significantly from the previous estimate of 214.2 trillion yen as the new estimate accounted for inflationary pressures and updated terrain and ground data, which have expanded anticipated flood areas.
Japan, one of the most earthquake-prone nations on earth, has an estimated 8 to 9 disaster risk along the Nankai Trough, a trembling ocean zone.
In the worst-case scenario, Japan is likely to have 1.2 million residents, or 10 % of its total population, based on a potential scale 9 earthquake. According to the review, as many as 298, 000 people may perish from quakes and building collapses in the wintertime.
The basin extends for roughly 900 kilometers off Japan’s south coast, where the Eurasian Plate is submerged beneath the Philippine Sea Plate. A megaquake may occur as a result of the accumulating geological strains, about once every 100 to 150 times.
After a magnitude-7.1 quake struck the trough’s top, Japan issued its first-ever megaquake advice last year, stating that there was a “relatively higher opportunity” of a collapse of scale 9 in the bowl.
More than 15, 000 people were killed at a nuclear power plant in northeast Japan as a result of a scale 9 earthquake that in 2011 caused a devastating wave and quad furnace outbursts.