1923 Great Kanto Earthquake

The 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake is the last major earthquake to hit the Tokyo area. At a magnitude of 7.9 - some reports say as much as 8.3 - it flattened the majority of Tokyo as well as surrounding areas.

destruction-of-nihonbashi-and-kanda-after-kanto-earthquake
Original image source Osaka Mainichi newspaper

What Happened On That Day?

Despite the severity of the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, most of the damage did not come directly from the earthquake itself.

It was coming up to lunchtime on that fateful 1st of September and many people were preparing their food over open fires. At that time, the majority of buildings were made from wood and, as a result, fire spread quickly from house to house, ensuring the destruction of the city.

One of the few buildings to remain standing, after the dust had settled was the Imperial Hotel Tokyo designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. In fact, the US Embassy was temporarily relocated here at the time due to the destruction of the Embassy building during the earthquake.

The Imperial Hotel was one of the first buildings to be constructed to allow different sections of the walls to move independently from each other - and it worked. The hotel was lucky enough to also have enough space around it so that it remained unaffected by the spreading fires that killed many of the people trying to flee the devastation.

A Diary Excerpt From The 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake

This is a section from a diary of a guest staying at the hotel at that time - it's an interesting and educational read with some emotional insights into the tragedies that people suffered that day.

Make sure to see our Tokyo emergency section so that in case the worst happens you know what to do.

Yokoamicho Park - In Memoriam

memorial-in-yokoamicho-park-tokyo

The 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, and the lessons learned from it, have certainly not been forgotten.

Yokoamicho Park is the location of the Tokyo Metropolitan Great Kanto Earthquake Memorial Museum. This location was chosen because of the approximately 38,000 people who perished here in the aftermath of the earthquake.

The area was open ground and so people collected here hoping to avoid the fires that were spreading through the city. Sadly, because the area was completely open with no trees or natural breaks of any kind, the fires swept through regardless killing those in its wake.

Of those who survived the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, the majority escaped to parks and gardens that were surrounded by trees and other foliage to divert the fire. This lesson has been taken on board and there are many parks and gardens located around Tokyo for this very reason.

How effective this tactic will be only time will tell. For more information on how to deal with an earthquake if you happen to experience one, please visit our Tokyo earthquake page.

My Biggest Tokyo Earthquake

seismograph-machines-showing-earthquakes

On July 23 2005, I experienced the largest earthquake I have felt in Tokyo. There have been a couple that have come close but this one sticks out in my memory.

It registered initially at 5.7 on the Richter scale with some sources upgrading it later to a 6.0. It was a Saturday afternoon and I had been to the office for a couple of hours. I had just left when I felt something was wrong - it's funny but if you are not inside a building, you feel the effect of an earthquake far less. I looked up and saw that the telephone wires were all swinging from side-to-side and made my dash for a doorway to stand in.

Getting home that day was a nightmare as you can see from my pictures. All the trains were stopped while the lines were checked for any damage. Things finally started moving about 4 hours after the event by which time I had almost walked home!

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