JAKARTA A small village on a remote island of Auseki, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan, was forced to be evacuated after being rocked by more than 1,000 earthquakes in less than two weeks. An evacuation order was issued on Thursday after the island was hit by an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.5, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
Akseki Island is part of a series of Tokara Islands in the southern Kyushu region, which has been rocked by 1,031 earthquakes measuring 1 or more June 21. Located in the Pacific "LIGHT", Japan is indeed one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world. A similar evacuation in Toshima was also carried out in December 2021 after a strong earthquake rocked Auxi.
Meanwhile, the latest epicenter was off the coast with a depth of about 20 km. Although the tremors did not trigger a tsunami warning and there were no reports of infrastructure damage, authorities decided to evacuate 89 Toshima villagers from the island, NKH World reported.
Launching The Independent, Saturday, July 5, residents departed by ship to the port in Kagoshima off the southern coast of Japan, where they were expected to stay in temporary accommodation. Toshima Village itself consists of seven inhabited islands. The first group departed in the early hours of Friday from Naze Harbor on Amami Oshima Island, 120 km south of Auseki.
Ferry ships stopped at the seven inhabited islands in the village and arrived at the port of Kagoshima Friday night. The total population of the combined inhabited islands is 668 people as of June. The refugees will stay in lodging facilities arranged by the village. Officials said the evacuation could last about a week because people from other islands in the region could also be asked to temporarily leave their homes due to persistent seismic activity.
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Rumors Of Great Earthquakes Circulating Japanese Tourism
In the midst of this increasing seismic activity, Japanese tourism is being faced with other challenges. Rumors went viral about the upcoming disaster, which stems from the prediction of comic books, has dampened the spike in Japanese tourism. Many visitors from neighboring areas canceled their travel plans.
Steve Huen of the EGL Tours travel agent in Hong Kong blamed the many predictions on social media related to the manga titled "The Future I Saw". This manga, first published in 1999 and republished in 2021, depicts the dream of a major earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan and neighboring countries in July 2025.
"The formula has a significant impact," Huen told Reuters, adding that his company has seen Japan's related businesses decline by half. He said discounts and earthquake insurance could not increase travel to Japan, which fell to zero.
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