September 1, 2004
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81 YEARS AGO TODAY
The ruins of Ningyocko Street, Tokyo
Sep 1 1923
A 7.9 magnitude earthquake strikes the cities of Tokyo and Yokohama at noon. Almost 142,000 people are killed by falling buildings or in the resulting fires. In all, 694,000 homes are destroyed, leaving 1.5 million survivors homeless.
From Otis Manchester Poole’s The Death of Old Yokohama.:
I had scarcely returned to my desk when, without warning, came the first rumbling jar of an earthquake, a sickening sway, the vicious grinding of timbers and, in a few seconds, a crescendo of turmoil as the floor began to heave and the building to lurch drunkenly…. The ground could scarcely be said to shake; it heaved, tossed and leapt under one. The walls bulged as if made of cardboard and the din became awful…For perhaps half a minute the fabric of our surroundings held; then came disintegration. Slabs of plaster left the ceilings and fell about our ears, filling the air with a blinding, smothering fog of dust. Walls bulged, spread and sagged, pictures danced on their wires, flew out and crashed to splinters. … It seemed an eternity; but the official record says four minutes…
Others said 10 minutes of felt vibration, and up to two and a half hours of constant motion. More than 200 aftershocks followed the 7.9 main event on Sept. 1st. On Sept. 2nd, an excess of 300 shocks were recorded, including a major event at 11:47 a.m. More than 300 additional shocks would follow from September 3-5.
Five-story reinforced concreate construction, Mitsukoshi, Tokyo
Coal or charcoal cooking stoves were in use throughout Tokyo and Yokohama in preparation for the noon-time meal and fires sprang up everywhere. In Yokohama alone, 88 separate fires began to burn simultaneously and the city was quickly engulfed in flames that raged for two days.Fire-induced wind spawned numerous cyclones, which further spread the flames.
The casualties from the fires are a horrifying combination of people who were trapped in collapsed buildings and those who took refuge in areas that were later surrounded and consumed by fire. The greatest loss of life occurred at the Military Clothing Depot in Honjo Ward, where many of the refugees had gathered. Most of them carried clothing, bedrolls, and furniture rescued from their homes. These materials served as a ready fuel source, and the engulfing flames suffocated an estimated 40,000 people.
Refugees in front of the Imperial Palace grounds.
O. M. Poole described the continuing destruction as night fell.
We seemed to be in the centre of a huge stage, illuminated by pulsing, crimson footlights. …we could see a thin rim of fire all around Tokyo Bay, meaning that fishing villages and small towns were all sharing the same fate; the glare above Yokosuka showed that the Naval arsenal was also going up.
Northwards over the water there rose on the horizon a billowy, pink cloud like cumuli at sunset, so distant as to seem unchanging and motionless, yet each time one looked it had taken a different shape. This was Tokyo burning, and by the cloud’s titanic proportions we knew the whole city must be in flames.
Yokohama, 1923
By nightfall Yokohama harbor was full of refugees on board ships. Unfortunately, oil, which had been seeping into the water, caught fire the following morning, and there was a mad scramble to get the ships out to open sea before they were engulfed. Many people were injured when they were caught at the end of a burning pier.
A tsunami followed the earthquake…
Rumors arose that the Coreans were planning some form of takeover in the aftermath of the disaster. The rumors led to groups of vigilantes who patrolled the streets, and there were accounts of attacks on Corean citizens. This prompted the government to open a shelter where as many as 3,075 Coreans were lodged for their own safety.
With a huge number of industries destroyed, the Bureau of Social Affairs listed the percentage of those who lost their jobs at 45.04, throwing the region into an economic tailspin.
http://nisee.berkeley.edu/kanto/yokohama.html
