The Japanese government announced this week that much more must be done to prepare for a possible Nankai Trough “megaquake,” after a government panel raised the 30-year probability of a major event to up to 82 percent and new estimates projected as many as 298 000 fatalities and damages of up to USD 2 trillion.
Japanese authorities urged residents of Akusekijima Island to evacuate after another strong earthquake struck the region on July 3, 2025, the latest in a series of more than 1 000 quakes recorded since June 21.
A strong and shallow earthquake registered by the JMA as M6.3 hit near the coast of Hokkaido, Japan, at 18:51 UTC on June 1, 2025 — 03:51 local time, June 2. USGS is reporting M6.0 at a depth of 31 km (19.2 miles).
A strong and shallow earthquake registered by the USGS as M6.1 hit near the coast of Hokkaido, Japan, at 08:37 UTC (17:37 local time) on May 31, 2025. The agency is reporting a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles). JMA is reporting M6.1 at a depth of 20 km (12.4 miles).
A strong earthquake registered by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) as M6.0 struck off the east coast of Osumi Peninsula, Kyushu at around 23:04 JST (14:04 UTC) on April 2, 2025. The USGS is reporting M6.2 at a depth of 26 km (16 miles).
As Japan marks the 14th anniversary of the 2011 Tohoku mega-quake—a magnitude 9.0 disaster that killed nearly 16 000 and triggered the Fukushima crisis—a new study from Tohoku, Hokkaido, and JAMSTEC researchers warns that strain building in the Chishima Trench off Hokkaido could unleash another magnitude 9.0 quake in the coming decades.
Japan has increased the estimated probability of a magnitude 8 and 9 megaquake occurring in the Nankai Trough within the next 30 years to around 80% on January 16, 2025, after an M6.8 earthquake hit near the coast of Kyushu. The probability was previously estimated at 70 to 80%.
A strong and shallow earthquake registered by the USGS as M6.8 hit near the coast of Kyushu, Japan at 12:19 UTC (21:19 LT) on January 13, 2025. The agency is reporting a depth of 49 km (30 miles). The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) is reporting M6.4 at a depth of 30 km (18 miles).
A strong and shallow M6.4 earthquake hit off the coast of Japan’s Noto Peninsula on Tuesday, November 26, 2024. Tremors of varying intensities (seismic intensity 1 or higher) were recorded across regions from northeastern to western Japan, including Ishikawa, Toyama, Niigata, and Fukui prefectures. The quake was an aftershock of a major M7.6 earthquake on January 1, 2024, in which more than 440 people lost their lives.
A strong and shallow earthquake registered by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) as M6.4 hit near the coast of Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, at 13:47 UTC on November 26, 2024. The agency is reporting a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles). USGS are EMSC are reporting M6.1 at a depth of 10 km.
