A Japanese government panel says the maximum probability of a magnitude-seven earthquake occurring along the Japan Trench in the next 30 years is more than 90 percent.

The Japan Trench in the Pacific off eastern Japan is where the Pacific plate sinks beneath the continental plate. It has been the site of numerous mega-quakes, including one that hit eastern Japan in March 2011.

The government's earthquake research panel released its new assessment of the trench area on Tuesday.

It says the probability of a magnitude-nine mega-quake is almost zero percent.

But there is 90 percent or higher chance of a huge quake of around magnitude seven or seven-point-five off eastern Aomori, northern Iwate and Miyagi prefectures.

Panel chief Naoshi Hirata, a professor at the University of Tokyo, is warning people in northeastern Japan not to think there won't be any more huge earthquakes, and to be ready.

Source: ANNnewsCH