Japan Issues Megaquake Advisory

Japan has isssued an advisory for a possible megaquake. Fox News Radio's Jonathan Savage joins us with the details. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is West Michigan's Morning News Stee Kelly and Brett Keita.
A lot of heavy stuff came down and now a
winter weather advisory on top of it to add one
to three more inches of snow as the temperature drops.
If you thought it was icy before, when you will
get to traffic and weather in just a few minutes.
But speaking of big problems, Japan issuing a megaquake advisory

(00:24):
yesterday after a big one struck off the eastern coast.
Jonathan Savage on the International Desk. We love to put
things in perspective. Jonathan in London with Box News Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Good morning, Hello, good morning.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
So what happened here? And then obviously the next thing
you think of is tsunami.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Right, Yeah, that's right. There was a warning for a
relatively small tsunami after this seven point five magnitude quake
on Tuesday. In the end, this earthquake didn't cost too
much damage thirty four injuries, mostly minor injuries, and some
damage to roads and buildings, but it has led to
a warning of a potential megaquake that's an earthquake with

(01:04):
a magnitude of eight or higher within the next week.
Every time they have a strong earthquake in Japan. Now
the issue this warning of a potential megaquake. The risk
is not massively increased, it's about one percent. But the
twenty eleven earthquake in Tsunami that killed nearly twenty thousand
people came shortly after a quake just like the one

(01:24):
they had on Tuesday. So the issue this megaquik advisory
every time they have a strong earthquake.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
We think about learning from their technology for places like
California where a lot of that stuff happens. So issuing
this warning is that scientifically or is it behaviorally because
of what happened you mentioned before.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
Yeah, behavior is a big, big part of it. They
want to make sure that it's a wake up call. Really,
it's not a prediction, just kind of a heads up.
What the government is saying to people is be cautious,
be prepared, but go about your daily activity and your work.
Keep an emergency bag with a few days worth of necessities,
keep shoes and helmets close by, talk about evacuation procedures

(02:06):
with your family. Even go to bed in day close
rather than pajamas. So if a megaquake happens at night,
or a tsunami warning is issued at night, you can
flee very very quickly. They say a megaquake could cause
up to ninety eight feet of a tsunami and kill
as many as two hundred thousand people.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
My goo, they've done a lot. We've seen videos of
stuff that they do on the coastline, right, concrete barriers
and what can you do against something like that?

Speaker 2 (02:35):
Yeah, run, I think is really all you could do
against something like that, And that is what they are
trying to get people to prepare for the damage caused
by a megaquake would be the estimate about two hundred
billion dollars if it happens in the area that they're
focusing on at the moment. And of course they have
memories of that twenty eleven quake that the images were

(02:57):
absolutely terrifying, the ones that were shared around the world.
Then it caused the destruction of a nuclear power plant
as well. So this has been taken very very seriously
by the Japanese government and they hope that people take
it just as seriously as they do.

Speaker 3 (03:11):
And Jonathan, to that point, I was out on the
West coast and I was visiting some relatives and I'd
never seen this before. I've been down to Florida, and
of course they've got hurricane routes right when you need
to evacuate, and they had tsunami routes, and my wife
and I were kind of like, wow, tsunami, but the
implications from Japan can affect to why it can affect
our West coast. Right when you're talking about a wall

(03:31):
of water like that, it continues on, it has to
go somewhere.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
Yeah, any earthquake that happens that any point at sea
could theoretically cause a tsunami. Of course, you remember the
Boxing Day tsunami from many years ago, the December twenty
sixth tsunami that affected much of South and Southeast Asia
and caused damage and devastation and death in multiple different

(03:55):
countries in multiple different directions. So it's you know, there's
nowhere necessarily this immune to This.

Speaker 1 (04:02):
Makes things here seem a little bit better. In London
this morning with Fox News Radio, Jonathan Savage, Thank you,
thank you,