kkirby..OT..the nuclear emergency has been declared over......see post on Maurice's thread........But...were Tokyo to experience another Great Quake as in 1923..( geologists predict it is due........70 year periodicity.)....kiss the market good by for a while......not just the Q .............................................THE 1923 TOKYO EARTHQUAKE
On September 1, 1923, just before noon, an earthquake of magnitude 8.3 occurred near the densely populated, modern industrial cities of Tokyo and Yokohama,
Japan. The epicenter was placed in Sagami Bay, just southwest of Tokyo Bay. Destruction ranged from far up into the Hakone mountains, home to popular tourist
resorts, to the busy shipping lanes of Yokohama Bay, north to the city of Tokyo.
Though not the largest earthquake to ever hit Japan, the proximity to Tokyo and Yokohama and the surrounding areas, with combined populations numbering 2
million, made it one of the most devastating quakes ever to hit Japan. Tokyo's principle business and industrial districts lay in ruins.
At a time when thousands of homes and restaurants had lit fires, mostly gas ranges, for noon-day meal preparation, the quake hit, demolishing buildings and toppling
contents of the traditional wood and paper Japanese houses. Flamable materials in the industrial plants and explosions at a munitions factory helped fuel the flames at
such a pace that the normally well-prepared firefighters could not keep up. Broken water mains made water unavailable to fight the fires.
Deaths were estimated at nearly 100,000, with an additional 40,000 missing. Hundreds of thousands were left homeless in the resulting fires. Fires in the Honjo and
Fukagawa districts of Tokyo surrounded over 30,000 people who took refuge in a large open area. The meager possessions they had fled with became additional
fuel for the firestorm and they were literally incinerated on this spot.
............... |
