TOKYO - 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, an organization offering free rental vehicles to disaster victims said Wednesday.
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, 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.
The central government has warned that the probability of a Nankai Trough megaquake occurring within the next 30 years stands at 60 to 90 percent or higher and that the disaster could claim about 298,000 lives in the worst-case scenario.
By prefecture, the number of damaged vehicles is projected to be highest in Aichi at 394,000, followed by Osaka at 306,000 and Mie at 224,000.
Cars could be swept away, damaged or rendered inoperable in areas flooded by tsunami waves, the association said.
During the response to the 2024 earthquake that struck the Noto Peninsula on the Sea of Japan coast, the association rented out 527 vehicles and spent about 69 million yen ($424,000) annually on maintenance and other costs.
The association estimates it would need about 20,000 vehicles and 2.6 billion yen annually to support people in the 12 prefectures if a Nankai Trough megaquake were to strike.
While the organization currently manages about 600 vehicles, association head Takehiko Yoshizawa told a press conference that support may not fully reach disaster-hit areas without public funding and the use of publicly owned vehicles.
