"It was decided to cancel visits to Central Asian countries and Mongolia," Kishida told reporters, stressing that in the coming week all government forces will be directed to monitoring the situation and preparing for a possible powerful earthquake in the Nankai fault, TASS reports.

The head of the Japanese government also noted that the authorities will actively work to prevent the spread of false information on the Internet on the topic of a possible earthquake.

Kishida planned to pay an official visit to Kazakhstan on August 9-10 and take part in the first summit of the Central Asia plus Japan dialogue. His talks with the President of the Republic Kassym-Jomart Tokayev were scheduled for August 10. Kishida also intended to visit Uzbekistan and Mongolia as part of the tour.

In recent years, Japanese seismologists have been very concerned about the likelihood of an earthquake in the Nankai fault, which is located southeast of the coast of the central part of Honshu Island. On August 8, an earthquake of magnitude 7.1 occurred in the southwest, after which seismologists announced an increase in the probability of tremors in the Nankai fault. Earthquakes with a magnitude of about 8.0 occur there about once every 100-200 years. According to scientists, the probability of an earthquake of magnitude 8.0 or 9.0 over the next 30 years is 70-80%. In this case, a significant part of Japan will suffer, and a tsunami with a height of more than 30 m will hit its east coast.