Catastrophe 100 years ago provides lessons Japan should heed today

The Great Kanto earthquake struck the Tokyo-Yokohama metropolitan area in 1923 with a magnitude of 7.9, killing over 100,000 people. — Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

THIS September marks exactly 100 years since one of the worst natural disasters in Japan’s history, the Great Kanto Earthquake. Living in Japan, where natural disasters happen frequently, we should use this milestone as an important opportunity to learn many lessons for thinking about disaster prevention.

The Great Kanto Earthquake occurred at 11:58am on Sept 1, 1923. Although many people believe even now that Tokyo was at the epicentre of the quake, the actual epicentre was south of the city. It extended over an area 130km long, from Kanagawa Prefecture across Tokyo Bay to Chiba Prefecture’s Boso Peninsula. The quake’s magnitude, a measurement of its seismic energy, is estimated to have been 7.9. The main quake was followed by a series of large aftershocks, with a total of five magnitude 7 or greater aftershocks occurring in two days.