Reversing its longstanding policy, the government plans to release stockpiled rice for emergency use if distribution problems occur, not just when there is a bad harvest.

In the aftermath of the devastating Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995, collapsed buildings blocked rescue efforts and ...

The “Open Seminar” is a forum for dialogue between researchers and citizens on themes such as disaster prevention and ...

Japan's government and experts have issued a warning about the increasing likelihood of a mega-earthquake striking the nation ...

The Nankai Trough, where the Philippine Sea Plate is slipping under the Eurasia Plate at the bottom of the sea off the ...

Toyota Motor Corp is considering shifting some production at its central Japan home ground to other areas in a realignment ...

Tremors in the Nankai Trough, south of Kobe, have increased recently as seismologists flag higher risks of a major quake in ...

It concerns what is known as a subduction megathrust quake along the Nankai Trough, an 800-kilometre undersea gully running parallel to Japan’s Pacific coast. The trench is where the Philippine ...

This week, government scientists marginally increased the probability of a vast “megaquake” along the undersea Nankai Trough over the next 30 years to 75-82 percent. Such a jolt could potentially have ...

and the Japan Meteorological Agency's release last August of emergency information about a possible Nankai Trough megaquake.

It is feared a megaquake could occur within the next 30 years along the Nankai Trough -- an ocean-floor trench along its Pacific coast where the Eurasian and Philippine Sea tectonic plates meet.