TsukuBlog
A Local Perspective on Life in Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
Though Still Dealing With the Effects of the Earthquake and Tsunami of 2011, on Disaster Prevention Day (September 1st) We Take Time Out To Remember Past Tragedies AND Consider Ways of Being Better Prepared For The Future
1 September, 2017
Tokyo`s Shita-Machi burning after the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923- note Mt Tsukuba on the right
By Avi Landau
There used to be a cannon, located in the plaza in front of Tokyo’s Imperial Palace, which since 1871 had been used to announce the arrival of 12 noon. On September 1, 1923 the usual DON (bang!) never sounded. A little more than a minute before midday, a tremendous earthquake, whose epicenter was in Sagami Bay, hit Tokyo with terrific force. Tokyo University’s seismograph, the only one in the vicinity to have survived the first violent spasm, recorded nearly 2000 more shock waves over the next 3-day period. Over that time, much of the Shita-Machi area of Tokyo had burned down, leaving more than 200,000 dead. Though Tsukuba lay beyond the reach of what came to be called The Great Kanto Earthquake (Kanto Daishinsai) many native Tsukubans and Ibarakians have heard from their grandparents how at that time the sky glowed red to the south at night, and was darkened in the day by drifting smoke .