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Tsunami from Japan megaquake could destroy 2 million cars: survey

More than 2 million cars could be damaged by tsunami waves in the event of a megaquake along the Nankai Trough off Japan’s Pacific coast,…

By Samantha Johnson / July 2, 2026
More than 2 million cars could be damaged by tsunami waves in the event of a megaquake along the Nankai Trough off Japan’s Pacific coast, according to a survey by an organisation offering free rental vehicles to disaster victims.
The survey, which covered 12 of Japan’s 47 prefectures, including Aichi in central Japan, showed that at least 2.04 million privately owned vehicles could be hit by tsunami waves following a magnitude-8 or -9 earthquake – about five times the number of vehicles damaged in the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that devastated northeastern Japan.

The Japan Car Sharing Association, based in Ishinomaki, where thousands were killed in the 2011 disaster, on Wednesday called for government support to expand its services using donated cars.

The association calculated the damage based on the estimated number of flooded households and vehicle ownership rates in 12 of the 30 prefectures feared to be seriously affected by a Nankai Trough megaquake and designated as areas for advancing disaster mitigation measures. Data were available for the 12 prefectures, including Kanagawa, Shizuoka, Ehime and Miyazaki.

Over 170,000 evacuated as earthquake shakes Japan

The central government has warned that the probability of a Nankai Trough megaquake occurring within the next 30 years stands at 60 to 90 per cent or higher and that the disaster could claim about 298,000 lives in the worst-case scenario.

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