Earthquake experts warn Japan to prepare for another earthquake, after a series of natural disasters just within a week that started last Monday.
Recently, 12 people were injured during the May 30 earthquake that hit parts of Chichi-shima, Shimoda, Oyama, Shingu, and Tokyo for about a minute. The US Geological Survey said the 7.8 magnitude disturbed the Pacific Ocean, 874 kilometers south of the city.
According to local media and the Tokyo Fire Department, no one was killed, although there was a 56-year-old man who broke his ribs, among a dozen people who sustained injuries.
The earthquake followed a series of natural disasters including a "less powerful" shake near Tokyo on May 25, and a volcanic eruption in south of Japan four days later. Another quake affected the Izu Islands, on Sundady, May 31, with a magnitude of 6.2.
"I can say that Japan is in an active stage now," Tokai University's Earthquake Prediction Research Centre head, Tushiyasu Nagao told AFP news agency. "We should be vigilant by knowing that an earthquake sizeable enough to affect our society can occur any time in the future."
Nagao also added that it was "too quiet" before a 9.0 magnitude quake that hit Japan's north-east sea, sending a giant tsunami in 2011. The USGS listed the particular earthquake as the fourth largest since 1900, which killed 15,890 people and damaged property worth a total of 25 trillion yen, or about US$300 billion.
The recent quakes might not be as devastating as in 2011 and Japan's worst, the Great Kanto Earthquake in Yokohama and Tokyo in 1923, but the damaging and deadly history of the country being prone to massive earthquakes and tsunamis should remind the government and citizens to be on full alert.
jKazuki Koketsu, University of Tokyo's Earthquake Research Institute professor, told TV Asahi to make this time an opportunity to prepare for another Japan Earthquake for the rest of 2015.
