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Disaster Response Day: Japan commemorates 100 years of Great Kanto earthquake

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Disaster Prevention Day
Japan commemorates 100 years of Great Kanto earthquake

This undated photo

© Uncredited/Kyodo News/AP/dpa

Around 145,000 people die when an earthquake hits the Kanto Plain in 1923. The probability of a similar tremor in the next three decades is high – but Tokyo is also better prepared.

Japan commemorated the more than 100,000 victims of the Great Kanto earthquake, which devastated large parts of the Tokyo area 100 years ago, with prayers and emergency drills. Today, the 100th anniversary, the government led by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida conducted a civil protection exercise. Around 145,000 people died in rubble and flames on September 1, 1923, when a 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck the Kanto Plain at midday and a subsequent firestorm hit Tokyo, then the traditional wooden capital and much of the neighboring country reduced Yokohama to rubble.

After the quake, rumors spread about alleged looting and arson by Koreans. As a result, there were massacres mainly of Koreans as well as Chinese and Japanese, who were held to be so because of their dialect. The 100th anniversary feature film “September 1923 (Japanese: ‘Fukudamura Jiken’, in German: Fukuda Village Incident)” by Japanese documentary filmmaker Tatsuya Mori aims to commemorate the lynchings committed by the police, military and vigilante groups.

Experts warn that Tokyo has a 70 percent chance of being hit again by a magnitude 7 earthquake within the next 30 years. In the meantime, however, the capital of millions is better prepared than 100 years ago. At that time not only the many wooden houses fell victim to the flames. Many western-style brick houses also failed to withstand the tremors. Only modern buildings made of reinforced concrete remained largely intact at that time, which is why reinforced concrete became the dominant building material in Japan.

The Kanto quake prompted the government to declare September 1st as Civil Protection Day. Every year, earthquake drills are held across the country on the day to raise public awareness and spread knowledge about disaster risk reduction.