Japan researchers sound warning of potential mega-earthquake near Hokkaido

A research team in Japan has issued a warning of a potential megaquake that could occur off the country's northern coast.

Trench off Hokkaido contains energy that could trigger a 9.0 earthquake

According to researchers from Japan's Tohoku and Hokkaido universities and the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, unreleased stress energy in the Chishima Trench off Hokkaido could potentially trigger an earthquake with a magnitude of 9.0, NHK World-Japan reported.

The warning came after the researchers released the results of their five-year study of the Chishima Trench.

They had installed GPS observation stations on the seabed in 2019 around the subduction zone — the point where an ocean plate sinks beneath a continental plate.

They found that the observation stations placed on the ocean plate moved about eight centimetres a year in the direction of the continental plate.

A station placed on the continental plate was also found to be moving in the same direction at the same rate as well.

The researchers said this is an indication of how parts of both plates are firmly joined together and that strain may be accumulating.

In addition, the energy being accumulated under the strain is enough to trigger another mega-quake.

Government panel predicts that an 8.8-magnitude earthquake could occur within the next 30 years

Meanwhile, a Japanese government panel has issued its own prediction of an earthquake with a magnitude of 8.8 occurring near the trench within 30 years.

According to the panel, the probability of such a quake occurring is between seven and 40 per cent.

The last time such a huge quake is believed to have occurred at the zone was in the 17th century.

The research team added that they plan to conduct another study at another location off Hokkaido.

An assistant professor of the Tohoku University International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tomita Fumiaki, also warned that memories of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami are fading, 14 years on from the disaster.

He called for the public to be vigilant as another mega-quake could occur again.

Top image via National Geographic/YouTube