A Japanese Government panel said on Tuesday, February 26, the risk of a major earthquake in the near future is high. A magnitude 7 or 8 quake is expected to strike the Japan Trench just off the northeast coast of Japan. The oceanic trench forms part of the Pacific Ring of Fire – a hotspot of volcanic activity and earthquakes along the basin of the Pacific Ocean. Japan’s Earthquake Research Committee said there is at least a 50 percent chance of magnitude 7 to 7.5 earthquake in the Fukushima Prefecture.
Fukushima Prefecture in central Japan suffered from a cataclysmic magnitude 9 earthquake in 2011.
The natural disaster just off the coast of Japan triggered a massive tsunami which killed more than 1,800 people in the prefecture alone.
The tsunami also led to a nuclear disaster and the meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Chances of another earthquake in the region are now up by 10 percent on the last Earthquake forecast released in March 2011.
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The Earthquake Research Committee also revealed the odds of a magnitude 7.9 quake in Miyagi Prefecture are up by 20 percent from zero percent in 2011.
Committee chairman Naoshi Hirata said residents need to be aware of the potential risk of cataclysm.
He said: “Just because there was a major earthquake in recent years, we do not want people to assume that there will not be another major earthquake occurring for a while.”
The 2011 earthquake in Fukushima and the subsequent tsunami led to a nuclear disaster and the meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
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The earthquake committee found another 80 percent chance of a major quake in Ibaraki Prefecture.
Northern Iwate Prefecture on the Island of Honshu was given a 90 percent chance of a magnitude 7 or 7.5 quake over the next three decades.
Southern Iwate Prefecture only faces a 30 percent chance of disaster.
Japan’s Government stabilised the Earthquake Committee in the wake of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
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What is the Ring of Fire?
The Ring of Fire is a major hotbed of seismic and volcanic activity stretching along the horseshoe-like basin of the Pacific Ocean.
Approximately 90 percent of the world’s earthquakes strike along the Ring of Fire.
And about 75 percent of the world’s active and dormant volcanoes are found in this part of the world.
The incredible activity in Ring of Fire is the result of tectonic plate movements deep beneath the waves of the Pacific Ocean.