TOKYO - A JAPANESE governor has come under fire for comments appearing to suggest that a huge earthquake in Tokyo would be an opportunity for western Japan to boost its economy.

Mr Toshizo Ido, governor of Hyogo prefecture - where 6,400 people were killed by a 7.3 magnitude quake in 1995 - made the remark at a meeting of governors from western Japan on Tuesday.

'If there were a big earthquake in Kanto (eastern Japan), Tokyo would suffer great damage. This would be a chance, and we should take advantage of it,' media reports quoted Mr Ido as saying.

A government panel has estimated that a magnitude 7.3 earthquake hitting Tokyo Bay would probably kill up to 11,000 people and leave 7 million homeless. Estimates of economic damage have topped more than US$1 trillion (S$1.5 trillion).

Mr Ido later defended his remarks, saying he was referring to the concentration of economic activity in Tokyo, whose more than 12 million residents make up about a 10th of Japan's population, and meant it was vital for backup elsewhere to be ready for a quake in the capital .

'I should have used a different word,' he told reporters.

Japan's top government spokesman said he was disappointed at Mr Ido's remarks.

'Hyogo suffered greatly from the Hanshin quake so he should know the pain very well,' Chief Cabinet Secretary Takei Kawamura told a news conference, referring to the deadly 1995 earthquake, which was Japan's worst in more than 50 years and devastated the western port city of Kobe, causing an estimated US$100 billion in damage.

Japan accounts for about 20 per cent of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.

In 1923 a magnitude 7.9 quake hit the Tokyo area and killed more than 140,000 people. -- REUTERS