Japan Holds Drills to Mark 100 Years Since Kanto Quake
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida held a televised disaster drill based on a fictional earthquake in the capital region, a century on from the real-life 1923 Great Kanto Quake that killed more than 100,000 people.
The 7.9-magnitude earthquake that struck the Sagamihara area southwest of Tokyo on September 1, 1923, just before noon, caused a huge fire in the region.
The fire destroyed nearly 300,000 Japanese paper-and-wood homes as the country suffered social and economic damage just as it was beginning to modernize.
The earthquake also set off a 12-meter-high tsunami that destroyed more than 150 homes and killed 60 people in Atami, on the other side of Sagami Bay.
Japanese officials are worried about another big earthquake.
The drill simulated the aftermath of a fictional 7.3-magnitude quake in central Tokyo at 7 a.m. on September 1. Kishida and his Cabinet ministers, all wearing light blue uniforms, walked to the prime minister's office for an emergency meeting to discuss initial — hypothetical — measures.
Earthquake drills took place around the country. At elementary schools, children squatted under desks to protect their heads from falling objects.
Japan, which sits on the Pacific "ring of fire," is one of the countries most at risk from earthquakes. A magnitude 9.0 quake on March 11, 2011, off Japan's northeastern coast, led to a powerful tsunami that killed more than 18,000 people and caused a nuclear disaster.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters the Great Kanto Quake serves as a reminder to make sure buildings are able to deal with earthquakes and fires.
He said that the memories of the Great Kanto Quake would not be forgotten and the government would do everything it could to make sure it is ready for another disaster in Tokyo or elsewhere in the country.
