Tokara islanders sleepless after 900 quakes in two weeks

It has rocked more than 900 earthquakes from a remote and populated island in southern Japan for two weeks, making the residents anxious and wake up all night.

The seismic activity was “very active” in the seas surrounding the Tokara Islands since June 21, the authorities said after an earthquake hit 5.5 on Wednesday.

There were no reports of damage and tsunami had not been warned, but the authorities advised the residents to prepare to evacuate if necessary.

“It is very frightening until sleep,” said one of the residents of the regional broadcaster MBC. “It looks like it is always shaking.”

The Tokara region has seen earthquake groups in the past, but the frequency of the latest tremors was unusual, according to the local media.

Japan is one of the most active countries in the face of the earth, because of its position on the so -called fireplace in the Pacific, where many tectonic paintings meet. He suffers from about 1500 earthquakes every year.

About 700 people live on seven of the 12 Tuocara Islands. There are no hospitals in some of these remote islands – at least six hours by ferry to the capital of the province, Kagoshima.

“You can hear a strange roar from the ocean before hitting the earthquakes, especially at night. It is strange,” Chizoko Arikawa of the island of Axikima told the Ashai Shimbon newspaper.

“Everyone is exhausted. We just want to stop,” said the 54 -year -old girl who lives next to the sea and runs a cattle farm with her husband.

“After a lot of earthquakes, it seems that the Earth is shaking even when it is not,” said Asamo Sakamoto, 60, head of the Association of Local Population in Akosikima.

“The earthquakes start with a tremor from the bottom, then the house swings. It is sick,” he said.

The authorities in the village of Toshima said some of the residents deprived of sleep and fatigue, and they also urged the media to stop immersing the local residents with discretion.

“We ask you to be taken into account and not to conduct excessive inquiries or interviews,” according to a notification on the village website.

Toshima village said on its website that some of the guest homes in the Tokara Islands have stopped accepting tourists because of earthquakes.

This series of tremors comes as the country as a whole has been preserved on the edge of rumors that a huge fatal earthquake can be hit soon.

1999 comic book by manga Rio Tatsuki feed these rumors. In a new version issued in 2021, she claimed that the next big earthquake would strike on July 5 this year.

This speculation has reduced some tourists, as many media have reported a wave of canceling the trip.

The vast majority of earthquakes that hit Japan are moderate, but some of them cause great damage, such as the damage to 2011 and that led to a massive tsunami in the northeastern coast, killing more than 18,000 people.

However, the authorities have feared for decades of “Big One”-Megacak once in the century in which many grew up. The worst scenarios Expect that he may leave more than 300,000 dead.

Earlier this week, the government called for new measures, such as building dams and evacuation buildings, to enhance the general readiness in the event of this disaster – but warned that more should be done.