Thursday, Sept. 1, 2011
THEN
Midday on Sept. 1, 1923, an earthquake of magnitude 7.9 shakes Japan’s main island decimating the Kanto region, especially Tokyo and Yokohama. Firestorms break out in the days following the quake burning 381,000 of the 694,000 houses damaged in the quake. Approximately 142,800 die in what is later known as the Great Kanto quake. Sagami Bay, the epicenter of the quake, generates a tsunami with waves as tall as 39 feet.
NOW
This year’s March 11, magnitude 8.9 quake hit Japan even harder, with tsunami waves recorded as high as 95 feet. However, the final death toll was less than in 1923, reaching 15,700. Japan is still feeling the after affects of the latest earthquake and tsunami, with political implications felt this week as Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and his Cabinet resigned en masse Tuesday, ahead of a vote in Parliament to install former Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda as the country’s new leader. Unpopular even before the quake, Kan’s handling of the Fukushima nuclear disaster and other earthquake relief work earned him no points with the opposition party or within his own Democratic Party.
