Tokyo, April 02: An earthquake of 6.0 magnitude struck Japan’s Kyushu Island on Wednesday, according to the National Center for Seismology.
No reports of any damage have been reported yet. The Japan Meteorological Agency said the earthquake occurred at 7:34 am (local time) at a depth of 40 km.
The earthquake comes days after a 7.7-magnitude earthquake in Myanmar that killed more than 2,800 people and left thousands homeless.
A Japanese government report on Monday warned that a “megaquake” and subsequent tsunami could result in up to 298,000 deaths and cause $2 trillion in damages.
A “megaquake” refers to an earthquake of magnitude 8 or higher, capable of widespread destruction and triggering a tsunami.
The revised estimates update a 2014 assessment of a potential massive earthquake along the Nankai Trough, an 800-km undersea trench where the Philippine Sea tectonic plate is subducted beneath Japan’s continental plate.
In August last year, the Japan Meteorological Agency issued its first-ever “megaquake advisory” under post-2011 rules, following a magnitude 7.1 earthquake in southern Japan that injured 14 people.
In January of the same year, a massive earthquake struck Japan’s Noto Peninsula, killing at least 260 people, including 30 quake-related deaths.
