Japan warns ‘big one’ earthquake could kill 300,000 people

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

Japan’s long-dreaded “big one” earthquake could kill almost 300,000 people along its urbanised Pacific coast, create 12.3mn evacuees and cause $1.8tn of economic damage, a new government forecast has warned.

The report, published on Monday in the first update for a decade, centred on a worst-case scenario for the destruction that could be wrought by a magnitude 9…