A strong earthquake may occur in North Tokyo Bay

The east coast of Tokyo and northeastern Kanagawa Prefecture may experience a magnitude 7 earthquake on the Japanese scale once the epicenter is inside Tokyo Bay with an intensity of 7.3 degrees.

The Yomiuri Shimbun, published on April 1, led by a study by Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, said the number of affected areas could reach 6 with nearly double the previous forecast.

The Ministry's team on March 30 announced a detailed map of the magnitude of the vibration of an earthquake that could hit the Tokyo metropolitan area and neighboring provinces.

This map shows that there are more affected areas than previous predictions of the Central Disaster Management Council (CDMC).

The epicenter is located in the northern part of Tokyo Bay, the entire administrative area
and a densely populated area in the orange area with intensity above level 6.

The central and local governments of Japan may need to review their disaster response measures.

The team also gave 18 scenarios related to earthquakes that centered around Tokyo.

Of these, an earthquake located in the northern part of Tokyo Bay is expected to cause the most serious damage to the capital and neighboring provinces.

Based on recent research on the stratigraphic structure of the metropolitan area, the research team made a specific forecast of the intensity of each earthquake.

Researchers believe that the epicenter will be located near the fault lines at a depth of 20-30km, more shallow than the previous 10km forecast.

They calculated that if the epicenter was north of Tokyo Bay, it could cause a level 7 earthquake in East Tokyo and Northeastern Kanagawa Prefecture.

An earthquake on level 6 is believed to be in Kanagawa Prefecture, east of Tokyo, west of Chiba Prefecture and Southeastern Saitama Prefecture.

This area may suffer from double vibration compared to the previous forecast. Among the team's earthquake forecasts with a mind-boggling mind in West Chiba and coastal Tokyo, a level 7 earthquake will occur in some areas, including the sea area in Tokyo.

If the earthquake of magnitude 7.1 on the Richter scale with the epicenter at a depth of 30-40km strikes the northwestern Chiba Prefecture, the researchers estimate its intensity can be at level 7 in Ibaraki South and above 6 in North Chiba.