A powerful earthquake striking right under Tokyo could kill more than 6,000 people in the capital alone and result in some 194,000 houses and buildings being destroyed or burned down in the worst-case scenario.
That's according to the Tokyo metropolitan government's latest estimates.
The metropolitan government revised its estimates of damage from a quake striking directly below the capital--a type of tremor called “chokkagata” in Japanese--for the first time in 10 years.
The seismic event would also force some 2.99 million people to evacuate in the worst-case scenario.
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The number of skyscrapers, including high-rise apartments called “tower mansions,” has increased by some 1,000.
While they make the city less vulnerable to natural disasters in some respects, these structures also create new risks, such as people being trapped in elevators or stranded within their units.
Another source of concern is a decline in the number of volunteer firefighters responsible for battling fires and rescuing victims by some 2,000 to about 22,000.
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