Tomorrow (April 14) marks the second anniversary of the start of the Kumamoto earthquakes of 2016. Until I read the following comment, it had not even occurred to me that the recent landslide in Oita might have something to do with the 2016 quakes:
“‘I am worried because all the residents are my acquaintances,’ said a 76-year-old man living some 2 kilometers from the landslide site, adding he felt that the ground in the area had loosened after major earthquakes struck Kumamoto and Oita prefectures in 2016.”
The main explanation that I’ve seen in TV coverage is that groundwater may have caused the landslide, which occurred with an obvious trigger, such as heavy rain or an earthquake. Perhaps the 76-year-old man’s association of this disaster with the Kumamoto earthquake is a better indication of the psychological mark that the quake left on people than of the physical cause of the recent landslide.
– Kirk
