More than 2,000 “felt quakes” have shaken a string of islands in southwestern Japan since June 21, according to the country’s weather agency, triggering fears that they are presaging a megaquake.
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The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) logged four temblors with an intensity of 4 in the area on Sunday and at least one on Monday, according to the Kyodo news agency.
A level-4 temblor on Japan’s 10-level Shindo scale is considered a “felt quake” as people will notice the shaking, which can set suspended fixtures swaying and topple objects on tables.
More than 60 residents have been evacuated from the Akuseki and Kodakara islands in the Tokara chain since July 4, after a quake measuring a lower 6 hit the area. Only 20 remained on Akuseki, which has an area of less than 8 sq km (3 square miles) and a population of 89, Nippon TV reported on Wednesday.
One evacuee told the broadcaster he was still traumatised by his experience and had trouble sleeping. “I always dream about earthquakes, or the island. Then I wake up. I feel the earthquake in my dreams, and in them, I go through exactly what I had actually experienced in real life.”
Some evacuees have asked to be allowed to go home, but local authorities say they can do so only when there are five straight days without a quake measuring 4 or above.
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That, however, would not be soon, going by the weather agency’s observations. “The seismic activity remains dynamic,” JMA official Ayataka Ebita said earlier this month.