Japan is well-prepared for disasters like these, having invested billions of dollars into cutting-edge quake detection technology, response and evacuation systems, and quake-proof infrastructure. But the threat looms large in the public imagination, especially with the government regularly warning that Japan could eventually see a once-in-a-century “megathrust earthquake.” Five died in Aeon Mall Kumamoto, while several others were killed when a chimney collapsed at a paper factory in Yatsushiro. Smaller quakes can still routinely bring death; a magnitude-7.1 earthquake killed more than 700 in Noto in 2024, western Japan. Severe earthquakes in this area have been recorded every 100 to 200 years, according to the government’s Earthquake Research Committee.