Japan approved a revised disaster-preparedness plan on Friday aimed at limiting the impact of a potential megaquake in the Tokyo metropolitan area.
The plan reportedly sets a goal of cutting projected fatalities and property losses by at least half.
This is the first revision to the plan since 2015, according to Jiji Press.
The Cabinet Office released a major update to its “megaquake” scenario last year, projecting that any massive offshore rupture could kill some 300,000 people and cause damage equivalent to half of the national GDP.
The Japan Times noted on Friday that a key focus of the revised plan was the widespread installation of seismic circuit-breakers to automatically shut off electricity in the event of strong tremors and thereby help prevent fires.
The government aims to equip almost all houses in Tokyo and nine surrounding prefectures covered by the plan with these devices by 2035.
Only about 20 per cent of homes in the region are equipped with seismic circuit-breakers currently.
Akama Jiro, minister for disaster management, said seismic circuit-breakers were still to be fully embraced by the public, according to NHK Japan. He reportedly urged the public to promote the device’s installation in homes.
A megaquake, also known as a megathrust earthquake, is an extremely powerful earthquake with magnitude above 8, according to Japan’s Headquarters for Earthquake Research Promotion.
It can occur as a result of “plate subduction”, which is when one tectonic plate slides beneath another and sinks into the Earth’s mantle.
A megaquake could cause a fault rupture of up to 1,000km. If it takes place in a shallow area beneath the seabed, the organisation says, it will “almost always produce a large tsunami”.
The revised measures form part of a broader effort to strengthen disaster resilience in one of the world’s most earthquake-prone urban regions.
Japan sits along the Pacific Ring of Fire and regularly experiences seismic activity.
In December, the national weather agency issued a megaquake warning hours after a 7.5-magnitude tremor struck the country. Authorities urged residents living near the Pacific coast to remain vigilant and prepare evacuation plans in case they needed to flee their homes.
The most notable recent megaquake was the 2011 Tohoku Pacific Ocean earthquake, which had a magnitude of 9.
Known in Japan as the “Great East Japan Earthquake”, it lasted about six minutes and caused a huge tsunami. It was the most powerful earthquake that Japan had ever suffered, and the fourth greatest recorded in the world.
Nearly 20,000 people died, the great majority in the tsunami that overwhelmed the east coast.
Japan also suffered megaquakes in 1933, 1944, 1946, 1952, and 2003.
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