Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has cancelled plans to visit Central Asia and Mongolia this weekend, following an unprecedented advisory that the risk of a major Pacific coast earthquake was higher than usual.
The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) issued its first-ever advisory of the risk of a huge earthquake on the country’s Pacific coast, on Thursday, following a magnitude 7.1 tremor that struck the southwestern island of Kyushu the same day.
Kishida told a press conference, that he has decided to stay in the country for the next week or so to ensure the preparations and communications are in order, although the advisory did not give a timeframe for the potential event or call for evacuations.
Meanwhile, public broadcaster NHK has said the government may seek to hold the meetings with regional leaders online instead, as the visit to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Mongolia was originally set to run from Friday to Monday.
