The Hong Kong government has warned residents travelling to Japan to stay alert after the country issued a “megaquake” advisory in response to a 7.1 magnitude tremor last Thursday.
In a Chinese statement issued on Monday afternoon, the government noted that it was currently the summer holiday season and Japan was among Hongkongers’ favourite travel destinations.
“The SAR government reminds Hong Kong people planning to go to Japan, or who are in Japan, to stay alert, be mindful of safety, and pay attention to the Japanese government’s latest announcements,” the statement read.
Japan’s Miyazaki Prefecture, in the country’s south, was struck by a magnitude 7.1 earthquake on Thursday. Videos showed photos of buildings and traffic lights shaking, although there were no reports of deaths or major infrastructure damage.
Shortly after, the Japan Meteorological Agency issued its megaquake advisory and said the chance of a large-scale earthquake on the Nankai Trough had become “multiple times higher than usual,” Nikkei reported.
The Nankai Trough is a 900-kilometre zone off the southwest Pacific coast where accumulating tectonic strains have the potential to cause massive earthquakes that could cause huge losses to life and millions of dollars of damage to property. In 1946, a magnitude 8 tremor in the trough killed over 1,300.
The advisory was still in place on Monday, according to media reports. Japanese authorities have asked over two dozen prefectures to check their disaster preparedness.
The Hong Kong government said in its press release that the city’s residents in Japan could call the Immigration Department’s hotline for help if they need assistance.
The city currently has a yellow outbound travel alert for parts of Japan due to nuclear accident at the Fukushima power plant due to an earthquake in 2011. There was no additional warning placed on travel to the country in relation to the earthquake last week.
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