Tokyo, Mar 16: More than 10,000 people would die if a massive earthquake were to hit Tokyo, the government has estimated according to a news report today. Authorities based their estimates on a magnitude-7 temblor striking the city, a city of 12 million people which sits atop four tectonic plates and is prone to earthquakes.
Seismologists predict that a massive earthquake is well overdue in Tokyo.
In 1995, a magnitude-7.2 quake in Kobe city killed 6,400 people. In 1923, a magnitude-8.3 one in Tokyo killed 1,42,000. Similar-size quakes throughout history - in 1703, 1782, 1812 and 1855 - have done vast damage to the capital.
On Thursday, a magnitude-5.1 earthquake shook Tokyo, but no one was injured and there were no reports of damage.
A report by the central disaster management council said about 8,100 lives could be lost in collapsed buildings and another 2,000 in landslides, fires and tsunamis - or ocean waves caused by seismic activity, the Yomiuri newspaper said.
The report, to be submitted to the Prime Minister's office, urges the government to fortify buildings and seawalls, the newspaper said. Bureau Report