A strong earthquake hit the islands in southwest Japan on Saturday, but weather experts said it had nothing to do with a comic book that some people say predicted a disaster.
The earthquake was a 5.4-magnitude and happened early in the morning near the Tokara islands. It happened 19 kilometers below the ground. There was no tsunami warning, but officials said more small earthquakes, called aftershocks, could happen. These could cause landslides or damage weak buildings.
Lately, many people on social media were talking about a comic book called The Future I Saw by Ryo Tatsuki. In the comic, the artist talks about big disasters happening in Japan. Some people thought it was a warning that something bad would happen in July, especially on a Saturday.
But Japan’s weather office said the earthquake and the comic are not connected. Ayataka Ebita, who works for the weather agency, said, “This is just a coincidence. Earthquakes can happen anytime. We can’t predict them. People should always be ready.”
The area where the earthquake happened has had many small quakes recently. Just two days before, another earthquake with a 5.5-magnitude shook the area. In the past two weeks, over 1,000 small tremors have been reported. Because of this, some people from Toshima village left their homes on Friday. Thirteen people moved to Kagoshima city to stay safe.
Japan often has earthquakes because it sits on a dangerous part of the Earth called the “Ring of Fire.” This area has many earthquakes and volcanoes. Japan gets around 1,500 earthquakes every year, which is about 18% of all the earthquakes in the world. Experts say people should trust science and not believe viral stories online.