Japan estimates monster quake could kill 320,000

About 19,000 were killed or remain missing from the 2011 disaster
A Japanese firefighter looks for bodies next to a grounded fishing boat in Kesennuma, Miyagi prefecture, on March 21, 2011 after the March 11 tsunami and earthquake devastated northeastern Japan. Japan's government on Wednesday unveiled a worst case disaster scenario that warned a monster earthquake in the Pacific Ocean could kill over 320,000 people, dwarfing last year's quake-tsunami disaster.

Japan's government on Wednesday unveiled a worst case disaster scenario that warned a monster earthquake in the Pacific Ocean could kill over 320,000 people, dwarfing last year's quake-tsunami disaster.

Tokyo's casualty toll estimate was based on a catastrophic scenario in which a powerful undersea quake of about 9.0 magnitude sparked a giant tsunami that swamps Japan's coastline south of Tokyo

The Cabinet Office's hypothetical disaster would see the quake strike at nighttime during the winter with strong winds helping unleash waves that reach 34-metre (110 feet), sweeping many victims away as they slept.

Many of the estimated 323,000 victims would be drowned by the tsunami, crushed under falling objects or in fires sparked by the disaster, it said.

On March 11 last year, a 9.0 magnitude quake struck seismically-active Japan in the early afternoon, triggering that reached 20 metres.

About 19,000 were killed or remain missing while the tsunami slammed into the Daiichi , sending reactors into meltdown and sparking the worst atomic crisis in a generation.

"As long as we live in Japan, we cannot deny the possibility of a huge earthquake and tsunami," Masaharu Nakagawa, state minister for , told reporters Wednesday.

The report was designed to paint a worst-case scenario and help officials boost their .

An estimate in 2003 assumed casualties of about 25,000 people, but that scenario envisioned a less powerful 8.4 magnitude quake striking a smaller area.

The deadliest quake in Japanese history struck the central Kanto region in 1923, killing at least 100,000 people.

(c) 2012 AFP

Citation: Japan estimates monster quake could kill 320,000 (2012, August 29) retrieved 19 March 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2012-08-japan-monster-quake.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

Explore further

Tokyo mega-quake 'would kill over 9,000'

0 shares

Feedback to editors