Up to 323,000 people could be killed in Japan in the event of a powerful earthquake with its epicenter in the Nankai Trough off central and western parts of the country, the government said Wednesday.
The figure is far larger than the about 19,000 people who died or went missing in the wake of the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami that struck northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011. It also surpasses the government's previous estimated death toll of 24,700 in 2003.
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