Is there a mega earthquake going to happen soon? Here's when scientists may make it public
Japan sent out its first-ever megaquake warning following an earthquake of 7.1 magnitude on the Richter scale that occurred on the southern island of Kyushu. It wasn't the main concern, even though the shaking didn't produce much ramifications but the largest tsunami wave it produced would have reached one’s knee.
Instead, seismologists were worried that the earthquake would cause tension that might set off a bomb that was ticking away offshore in Japan, near the Nankai trough, which is probably the most dangerous fault in the nation. The Japanese government estimates that the subduction zone has the capacity to produce tsunami waves up to 100 feet tall and kill almost a third of a million people.
As quoted in a report by NBC News, Harold Tobin, Washington state’s seismologist, stated, «We don't have such a protocol» in the United States. However, the Cascadia subduction zone has equally dangerous faults. The Cascadia fault's 9.0 magnitude earthquake and the fatal tsunami, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, would kill 14,000 people in Oregon and Washington. Tobin has been considering this scenario for years: What justifies raising the alarm if he discovers evidence, even if it's slight, that a catastrophic earthquake is more likely to occur? Part of Tobin's dilemma stems from this peculiar period in his field: In the world's most seismically hazardous areas, researchers believe they are narrowing in on the causes or precursors of earthquakes, but the science is far from conclusive.
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