Tokara Islands are hit by 900 earthquakes in two weeks

The Tokara Islands in Kagoshima Prefecture are continuing to shake. In less than two weeks, the archipelago consists of 12 small islands between Yakushima and Amami-ishima, and has experienced more than 900 earthquakes. Understandably, the ongoing tremors worried residents. “It feels like you’re always shaking,” a person who lives there told regional broadcaster MBC. “Even falling asleep is horrible.” Another commented: “It’s not clear when this will all end. I should consider whether to evacuate my kids.”

More than 900 earthquakes since June 21

A total of 911 earthquakes were recorded in the region from June 21 to late Wednesday afternoon. On Thursday afternoon at 4:13 pm, a magnitude 5.5 earthquake struck the village of Toshima. It registered a lower 6 on the Shindo scale, which measured the degree of shaking. A lower 6 means most people will find it difficult to stay standing. Earlier in the day, a magnitude 5.6 earthquake hit the same village at 3:26 pm on Wednesday, where residents were awakened by a magnitude 5.1 earthquake.

An emergency press conference was held after the earthquake in the afternoon. “Seismic activity has been very active since June 21,” said Ayataka Ebita, director of earthquake and tsunami observation at the agency. “We want people to ensure their safety in areas with strong tremors and pay attention to falling rocks and landslides. We don’t know when the seismic activity will end. Given past examples, we want people to prepare for earthquakes with an earthquake of about 5.”.”

Ryo Tatsuki’s “July 5 Disaster Prophecy”

Earthquake clusters on the Tokara Islands further raised fears of a catastrophic disaster hit Japan. In the “full version” of her book The future I seeRyo Tatsuki, released in 2021, wrote a dream that was initially seen on July 5, which seemed to tell her that “the disaster will happen in July 2025.” The first edition of the comic, published in 1999, warned that a major natural disaster occurred in March 2011, leading many to believe that she had predicted the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and the subsequent tsunami in Tohoku.

However, Tatsuki has recently downplayed the prophetic quality of her dreams. “July 5 is not necessarily the date of any disaster,” she said. “It may be just the date I dreamed about, and that doesn’t mean anything will actually happen that day.” She added: “The interest in these predictions shows that people’s awareness of disaster preparation is rising, which is a good thing… Just because my dream on a certain day doesn’t mean anything will actually happen on that date, so there’s no need to be overly anxious.”

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