Environment

On Thursday evening, Japanese authorities sent out a striking warning to the world: a mega earthquake is approaching in the near future.

The Japanese are asked to be alert, but not to evacuate just yet. Indeed, authorities stressed that the warning did not mean that a major earthquake was imminent, but that it was more likely than usual. 

The striking news came just hours after a 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of the southern island of Kyushu. The epicentre was at the edge of the Nankai Trough, an area of seismic activity stretching along Japan's Pacific coast. Experts say there is a 70-80 per cent chance that an earthquake with a magnitude of 8 or 9 will occur along that trough "sometime" in the next 30 years. By the worst estimates, more than 200,000 people could then be killed in such a quake and the possible subsequent tsunami.

The last mega earthquake occurred in 1946. It is the first time ever that Japan has warned of such a mega-earthquake.

(SR for Tagtik/Source: BBC News - Belga/Illustration picture: Photo by Caglar Oskay on Unsplash)