WNAM REPORT:An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.1 hit southwestern Japan on Thursday, followed by tsunami of up to 50 centimeters after tsunami advisories were issued for the Pacific coast extending to the western part of the country, the weather agency said.
The 4:43 p.m. quake occurred at a depth of around 30 kilometers off Miyazaki Prefecture and registered lower 6 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7 in the city of Nichinan in the southern part of the prefecture, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
Shortly afterward, the agency started investigating whether there is any link between the temblor and a potential massive trench-type quake along the Nankai Trough stretching from off western to central Japan.
Later in the day, the weather agency said the possibility of a huge quake in the Nankai Trough is relatively higher than usual.
Several injuries have been reported in Miyazaki and other prefectures in Kyushu, one of the country’s four main islands.
The tsunami advisories were issued for Kochi, Ehime, Oita, Miyazaki and Kagoshima prefectures, but the weather agency lifted them except for Miyazaki.
Tsunami with heights of around 50 centimeters and 20 cm was observed in Miyazaki and southwestern Kochi, respectively, the agency said.
No abnormalities were found at Ikata and Sendai nuclear power plants in Ehime and Kagoshima prefectures, their operators said.
The powerful temblor also disrupted transportation services around Miyazaki Prefecture. Some flights connecting Miyazaki airport with Osaka, as well as Tokyo’s Haneda, were canceled.
Services of the Kyushu and Nishi Kyushu shinkansen bullet trains were temporarily suspended due to the quake, the operator said. A ferry from Miyazaki to Kobe in western Japan was canceled.
The agency, which initially estimated the quake’s magnitude at 6.9, warned that quakes with a seismic intensity of around lower 6 could occur for about a week.
As of January, the government’s Earthquake Research Committee forecasted a 70 to 80 percent likelihood that a quake with a magnitude of 8.0 to 9.0 will occur near the Nankai Trough within the next 30 years.
In 2012, the government estimated that up to 323,000 people could die in the megaquake.
