TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Aug 8 cancelled a four-day trip to Central Asia after earthquake scientists warned the country should prepare for a possible “mega quake”.

       The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said a huge earthquake was more likely in the aftermath of a 7.1-magnitude jolt in the south on Aug 8 that left 14 people injured.

       Some bullet trains between Tokyo and western Osaka are running more slowly as a precaution, so delays will be possible for about a week, the rail operator said.

       Nuclear plants nationwide were also instructed by authorities to double-check their disaster preparations.

       The Japanese word for “hoarding” was trending on social media platform X as people expressed concern about panic-buying and urged each other to stay rational.

       Mr Kishida was on Aug 9 due to travel to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Mongolia, and had planned to attend a regional summit.

       “As the prime minister with the highest responsibility for crisis management, I decided I should stay in Japan for at least a week,” he told reporters.

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       He added that the public must be feeling “very anxious” after JMA issued its first advisory under a new system drawn up following a major 9.0-magnitude earthquake in 2011 that triggered a deadly tsunami and nuclear disaster.

       “The likelihood of a new major earthquake is higher than normal, but this is not an indication that a major earthquake will definitely occur,” JMA said.

       A moderately strong 5.3-magnitude quake shook Tokyo at 7.57pm local time (6.57pm Singapore time) on Aug 9, with phone alarms blaring to warn of a potentially strong earthquake.

       The epicentre was beneath Kanagawa prefecture, south of Tokyo, at a depth of 10km, according to JMA’s preliminary data. There was no tsunami threat.

       During the Aug 8 earthquake off the southern island of Kyushu, traffic lights and cars shook, and dishes fell off shelves, but no serious damage was reported.

       The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said 14 people were hurt – including two who were seriously injured.

       Sitting on top of four major tectonic plates, the Japanese archipelago of 125 million people sees some 1,500 quakes every year, most of them minor.

       Even with larger tremors, the impact is generally contained, thanks to advanced building techniques and well-practised emergency procedures.

       The government previously said a mega quake has a roughly 70 per cent probability of striking within the next 30 years. It could affect a large swathe of the Pacific coastline of Japan and threaten an estimated 300,000 lives in the worst-case scenario, experts say.

       Experts from Earthquake Insights said quake prediction is impossible and even when the risk of a second earthquake is elevated, it is “still always low”.

       On Jan 1, a 7.6-magnitude jolt and powerful aftershocks hit the Noto Peninsula on the Sea of Japan coast, killing at least 318 people, toppling buildings and knocking out roads.

       In 2011, a mammoth 9.0-magnitude undersea quake off north-eastern Japan triggered a tsunami that left around 18,500 people dead or missing. It sent three reactors into meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant, causing Japan’s worst post-war disaster and the most serious nuclear accident since Chernobyl.

       A future mega quake could emanate from the vast Nankai Trough off eastern Japan that in the past has seen major jolts, often in pairs, with magnitudes of eight and even nine.

       These included one in 1707 – until 2011, the largest recorded – when Mount Fuji last erupted, another in 1854, and then a pair in 1944 and 1946. AFP