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78-509: After the destructive Great Hanshin earthquake of 1995, the Science and Technology Agency established a round-table conference, which in May 1996 recommended that an earthquake research centre be founded to prevent future earthquake damage in urban areas. It was recommended that the research centre should have a three-dimensional shake table. Development of the table's actuators began in 1995, and

156-628: A Buddhist-style memorial hall/museum, a memorial bell donated by Taiwanese Buddhists, a memorial to the victims of World War II Tokyo air raids , and a memorial to the Korean victims of the vigilante killings. In the historical fantasy novel Teito Monogatari ( Hiroshi Aramata ) a supernatural explanation is given for the cause of the Great Kantō earthquake, connecting it with the principles of feng shui . In Yasunari Kawabata 's 1930 novel The Scarlet Gang of Asakusa several chapters deal with

234-579: A big production center, the local economy recovered very quickly. Even though less than half the port facilities had been rebuilt by that stage, within a year import volumes through the port had recovered fully and export volumes were nearly back to where they would have been without the disaster. Less than 15 months after the earthquake, in March 1996, manufacturing activity in greater Kobe was at 98% of its projected pre-quake level. The fact that volunteers from all over Japan converged on Kobe to help victims of

312-646: A certain magnitude, which allowed them to deploy to the Niigata region within minutes. Control over fire response was likewise handed over from local fire departments to a central command base in Tokyo and Kyoto. In response to the widespread damage to transportation infrastructure, and the resulting effect on emergency response times in the disaster area, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport began designating special disaster prevention routes and reinforcing

390-553: A combined maximum loading capacity of 9000 kilonewtons. Due to the high cost of running the experiments, it is E-Defense policy that the results not be intellectual property of the conductors of the experiments but instead shared by the international earthquake engineering community. This is so that the results can have a high impact. Great Hanshin earthquake The Great Hanshin Earthquake occurred on January 17, 1995, at 05:46:53 JST (January 16 at 20:46:53 UTC ) in

468-467: A culture of militarism . After the earthquake, Gotō Shinpei organized a reconstruction plan of Tokyo with modern networks of roads, trains, and public services. Parks were placed all over Tokyo as refuge spots, and public buildings were constructed with stricter standards than private buildings to accommodate refugees. The outbreak of World War II and subsequent destruction severely limited resources. Frank Lloyd Wright received credit for designing

546-567: A lesser extent. Those that were not constructed to these standards suffered serious structural damage, such as traditional houses which had heavy tiled roofs that could weigh as much as two tons, intended to resist the frequent typhoons plaguing Kobe, but were only supported by a light wooden frame. When these wood supports gave way, the roof would crush the unreinforced walls and floors in a pancake collapse . Newer homes have reinforced walls and lighter roofs to avoid this, but are thusly more susceptible to typhoons. The damage to highways and subways

624-463: A link that carried 40% of Osaka-Kobe road traffic. Half of the elevated expressway's piers sustained some damage. The entire route was not reopened until September 30, 1996. Three bridges on the less heavily used Route 2 were damaged, but the highway was reopened well ahead of Route 3 and served as one of the main intercity road links for a time. The Meishin Expressway was only lightly damaged, but

702-478: A major wake-up call for Japanese disaster prevention authorities. Japan installed rubber blocks under bridges to absorb the shock and rebuilt buildings further apart to prevent collateral damage. The national government changed its disaster response policies in the wake of the earthquake, and its response to the 2004 Chūetsu earthquake was significantly faster and more effective. The Ground Self-Defense Forces were given automatic authority to respond to earthquakes over

780-401: A maximum payload of 1,200 tons. The table has five horizontal actuators for both directions and 14 vertical actuators, each with a maximum driving force of 4,500 kilonewtons. They can generate frequencies with good accuracy up to 15 hertz and can be increased to 30 hertz with lower accuracy. Universal joints are placed between the actuators and the table. The facility is on

858-408: A portable radio and use it to listen to reliable information, and not to be misled by rumors in the event of a large earthquake. Following the devastation of the earthquake, some in the government considered the possibility of moving the capital elsewhere. Proposed sites for the new capital were even discussed. Japanese commentators interpreted the disaster as an act of divine punishment to admonish

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936-589: A result of large fires that broke out. Fires started immediately after the earthquake. Some fires developed into firestorms that swept across cities. Many people died when their feet became stuck on melting tarmac . The single greatest loss of life was caused by a fire whirl that engulfed the Rikugun Honjo Hifukusho (formerly the Army Clothing Depot) in downtown Tokyo, where about 38,000 people who had taken shelter there during

1014-401: A six-hectare site, which includes several buildings. These are the experiment building, which contains the shaking table; the operation building, which contains the control system for the shaking table; the hydraulic unit building, which contains equipment that powers the shaking table; and the preparation building, where test structures are prepared. As of 2020, 113 experiments have been run on

1092-605: A strike-slip mechanism that accommodated east–west shortening of the Eurasian plate due to its collision with the Philippine Sea plate in central Honshu . The Mj 7.3 earthquake struck at 05:46:53 JST on the morning of January 17, 1995. It lasted for 20 seconds. During this time the south side of the Nojima Fault moved 1.5 meters to the right and 1.2 meters downwards. There were four foreshocks , beginning with

1170-403: A third type, called an "inland shallow earthquake". Earthquakes of this type occur along active faults . Even at lower magnitudes, they can be very destructive because they often occur near populated areas and because their hypocenters are located less than 20 km below the surface. The Great Hanshin earthquake began north of the island of Awaji, which lies just south of Kobe. It spread toward

1248-454: A total construction cost of 45 billion yen. The nickname "E-Defense" was selected in a public competition, with the letter "E" standing for Earth. E-Defense could not reproduce the ground motions of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake due to the long period and long duration of the shaking. NIED tried to simulate the ground motions of this earthquake for five minutes but was initially only able to manage 1.5 minutes of shaking due to insufficient oil for

1326-408: Is among the victims; they get back together, and Tousei allows them to. In Makiko Hirata's josei manga and anime Kasei Yakyoku the story finishes some time after the earthquake, as a corollary to the main love triangle between the noblewoman Akiko Hashou, her lover Taka Itou, and Akiko's personal maid Sara Uchida. The earthquake happens just as the marriage between Akiko and her fiancé Kiyosu Saionji

1404-566: Is announced. Sara is in the streets, and Taka is taking Sara's brother Junichirou to a hospital after he was injured in a yakuza-related incident. The Hashou's mansion is destroyed, leading to an emotional confrontation between Akiko and Saionji; meanwhile, Sara's humble house in the suburbia is also destroyed and her and Junichirou's mother dies of injuries she sustained in the earthquake. Maurice Tourneur 's 1924 silent film Torment has an earthquake in Yokohama in its plot, and uses footage of

1482-575: Is called The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake Disaster ( 阪神・淡路大震災 , Hanshin-Awaji Daishinsai ) , often shortened to The Great Hanshin Earthquake Disaster ( 阪神大震災 , Hanshin Daishinsai ) ( Hanshin refers to the area encompassing Osaka and Kobe). In the scientific literature the earthquake itself is called the 1995 Southern Hyōgo Prefecture Earthquake ( 平成7年(1995年)兵庫県南部地震 , Heisei 7 nen (1995 nen) Hyōgo-ken Nanbu Jishin ) ,

1560-782: Is decorated with arches of multicoloured lights that were donated by the Italian government. Amongst the commemorative events held on the anniversary of the earthquake, large "1.17" digits are illuminated in Higashi Yuenchi Park in the early hours of January 17 each year. Approximately 1.2 million volunteers were involved in relief efforts during the first three months following the earthquake. Retailers such as Daiei and 7-Eleven used their existing supply networks to provide necessities in affected areas, while NTT and Motorola provided free telephone service for victims. The organized crime Yamaguchi-gumi yakuza syndicate

1638-476: Is designated as Disaster Prevention Day to commemorate the earthquake and remind people of the importance of preparedness, as August and September are the peak of the typhoon season. Schools and public and private organizations host disaster drills. Tokyo is located near a fault zone beneath the Izu Peninsula which, on average, causes a major earthquake about once every 70 years, and is also located near

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1716-463: Is estimated to have exceeded US$ 1 billion (or about $ 18 billion today). There were 57 aftershocks. Ethnic Koreans were massacred after the earthquake. The Home Ministry declared martial law and ordered all sectional police chiefs to make maintenance of order and security a top priority. A false rumor was spread that Koreans were taking advantage of the disaster, committing arson and robbery, and were in possession of bombs. Anti-Korean sentiment

1794-487: Is taken in by a friend of the late Takao, Dr. Oikawa. Waki Yamato 's manga Haikara-san ga Tōru actually reaches its climax after the Great Kantō earthquake—which happens right before the wedding of the female lead, Benio Hanamura, and her second love Tousei. Benio barely survives when the Christian church she's getting married in collapses, and then she finds her long-lost love Shinobu whose other love interest Larissa

1872-614: The Imperial Hotel, Tokyo , to withstand the quake, although in fact the building was damaged, though standing, by the shock. The destruction of the US embassy caused Ambassador Cyrus Woods to relocate the embassy to the hotel. Wright's structure withstood the anticipated earthquake stresses, and the hotel remained in use until 1968. The innovative design used to construct the Imperial Hotel, and its structural fortitude, inspired

1950-688: The Okhotsk microplate along the line of the Sagami Trough . In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, the Kantō Massacre began. Rumors emerged that ethnic Koreans in Japan had poisoned wells or were planning to attack cities. In response, the Japanese police and bands of armed vigilantes killed ethnic Korean civilians and anyone they suspected of being Korean. Estimates of the death toll from

2028-548: The Sagami Trough , a large subduction zone that has potential for large earthquakes. Every year on this date, schools across Japan take a moment of silence at the precise time the earthquake hit in memory of the lives lost. Some discreet memorials are located in Yokoamicho Park in Sumida Ward , at the site of the open space in which an estimated 38,000 people were killed by a single fire whirl . The park houses

2106-458: The 1870s, the rate in Tokyo remained high, more so in the upper-class residential northern and western districts than in the densely populated working-class eastern district. An explanation is the decline of waste disposal, which became particularly serious in the northern and western districts when traditional methods of waste disposal collapsed due to urbanization. The 1923 earthquake led to record-high morbidity due to unsanitary conditions following

2184-524: The Great Kanto earthquake is recreated in the 1998 film, After Life , known in Japanese as Wandafuru Raifu (or Wonderful Life ). Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda , the plot takes place in a way station for those who have just died. The newly deceased will take their happiest memory with them into the afterlife. One of the newly deceased has a memory of being in the woods after the earthquake. Michiyo Akaishi's josei manga Akatsuki no Aria features

2262-580: The Great Kantō earthquake. In the TV adaptation of the novel Pachinko by Min Jin Lee , a young Hansu escapes Yokohama with his father's former yakuza employer, Ryoichi, from the Great Kantō Earthquake. The Great Kantō Earthquake is not featured in the book. In Oswald Wynd 's novel The Ginger Tree , Mary Mackenzie survives the earthquake, and later bases her clothes designing company in one of

2340-541: The Imperial Army used the pretext of civil unrest to liquidate political dissidents. Socialists such as Hirasawa Keishichi  [ ja ] (平澤計七), anarchists such as Sakae Ōsugi and Noe Itō , and the Chinese communal leader, Ō Kiten  [ ja ] (王希天), were abducted and killed by local police and Imperial Army, who claimed the radicals intended to use the crisis as an opportunity to overthrow

2418-449: The Japanese construction company Kajima Kobori Research's conclusive report of September 2004, 105,385 deaths were confirmed in the 1923 quake. The damage from this natural disaster was one of the greatest sustained by Imperial Japan . In 1960, on the 37th anniversary of the quake, the government declared September 1 an annual "Disaster Prevention Day". Because the earthquake struck when people were cooking meals, many were killed as

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2496-654: The Japanese government. Director Chongkong Oh made two documentary films about the pogrom : Hidden Scars: The Massacre of Koreans from the Arakawa River Bank to Shitamachi in Tokyo (1983) and The Disposed-of Koreans: The Great Kanto Earthquake and Camp Narashino (1986). They largely consist of interviews with survivors, witnesses, and perpetrators. The importance of obtaining and providing accurate information following natural disasters has been emphasized in Japan ever since. Earthquake preparation literature in modern Japan almost always directs citizens to carry

2574-483: The Japanese people for their self-centered, immoral, and extravagant lifestyles. In the long run, the response to the disaster was a strong sense that Japan had been given an unparalleled opportunity to rebuild the city and rebuild Japanese values. In reconstructing the city, the nation, and the Japanese people, the earthquake fostered a culture of catastrophe and reconstruction that amplified discourses of moral degeneracy and national renovation in interwar Japan, fostering

2652-468: The Kantō earthquake in the film. In the 2013 animated film by director Hayao Miyazaki , The Wind Rises , the protagonist Jiro Horikoshi is traveling to Tokyo by train to study engineering. On the way, the 1923 earthquake strikes, damaging the train and causing a huge fire in the city. In the 2022 animated film Suzume no Tojimari , directed by Makoto Shinkai , the earthquake is briefly alluded to in

2730-642: The Osaka-Kobe railway tracks were operational. Daikai Station on the Kobe Rapid Railway line collapsed, bringing down part of National Route 28 above it. Wooden supports collapsed inside supposedly solid concrete pilings under the tracks of the Shinkansen high-speed rail line, causing the entire line to shut down. The railways rebounded quickly after the quake, reaching 80% operability in one month. The Kobe Municipal Subway resumed operation

2808-523: The actuators. After more accumulators were installed and bypass valves were added to the actuators, they achieved the goal of five minutes of sustained shaking. The table is 20 by 15 metres (an area of 300 square metres), making it the largest earthquake shaking table in the world when it was constructed. It can move in the x, y, and z directions and perform yaw, pitch, and roll rotations. It can accelerate up to 1  g horizontally in both directions and up to 1.5  g vertically. It can have

2886-471: The affected areas. People were forced to wait in corridors due to the overcrowding and lack of space. Some people had to be operated on in waiting rooms and corridors. To help speed the recovery effort, the government closed most of the Hanshin Expressway network to private vehicles from 6:00 am to 8:00 pm daily and limited traffic to buses, taxis and other designated vehicles. To keep

2964-453: The buildings in the worst-hit areas were completely destroyed or rendered uninhabitable. About 22% of the offices in Kobe's central business district were rendered unusable, and over half of the houses in that area were deemed unfit for occupancy. Although some were destroyed and others suffered severe damage, high-rise buildings that were built in compliance with the 1981 building code suffered to

3042-421: The center of the city of Kobe . At least 5,000 people died as a result of this earthquake; about 4,600 of them were from Kobe. Among major cities, Kobe, with its population of 1.5 million, was the closest to the epicenter and hit by the strongest tremors. This was Japan's second deadliest earthquake in the 20th century after the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake , which claimed more than 105,000 lives. Most of

3120-546: The cities of Kobe , Ashiya , Nishinomiya and Takarazuka . Tremors were valued at seismic intensity of Levels 4 to 6 at observation points in Kansai , Chūgoku , Shikoku and Chūbu regions: Damage was widespread and severe. Structures irreparably damaged by the earthquake included nearly 400,000 buildings, numerous elevated road and rail bridges, and 120 of the 150 quays in the port of Kobe. The quake triggered approximately 300 fires, which raged over large portions of

3198-462: The city. Disruptions of water, electricity and gas supplies were common. Residents feared returning home because of aftershocks that lasted several days (74 of which were strong enough to be felt). The majority of deaths (over 4,000) occurred in cities and suburbs in Hyōgo Prefecture . A total of 68 children under the age of 18 were orphaned, while 332 children lost one parent. One in five of

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3276-594: The coast of Sagami Bay , Bōsō Peninsula , Izu Islands , and the east coast of Izu Peninsula within minutes. The tsunami caused many deaths, including about 100 people along Yui-ga-hama Beach in Kamakura and an estimated 50 people on the Enoshima causeway. Over 570,000 homes were destroyed, leaving an estimated 1.9 million homeless. Evacuees were transported by ship from Kantō to as far as Kobe in Kansai. The damage

3354-522: The collapsed structures were constructed properly according to the building codes in force in the 1960s. The steel-reinforcement specifications in the 1960s regulations had already been discovered to be inadequate and revised several times, the latest revision being in 1981, which proved effective but only applied to new structures . Ten spans of the Kobe Route elevated expressway were knocked over in three locations across Kobe and Nishinomiya, blocking

3432-616: The creation of the popular Lincoln Logs toy. The unfinished battlecruiser Amagi was in drydock being converted into an aircraft carrier in Yokosuka in compliance with the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. The earthquake damaged the ship's hull beyond repair, leading it to be scrapped , and the unfinished fast battleship Kaga was converted into an aircraft carrier in its place. In contrast to London , where typhoid fever had been steadily declining since

3510-503: The day after the earthquake with limited service between Seishin-Chuo and Itayado stations (along with the Hokushin Kyuko Electric Railway between Tanigami and Shin-Kobe ). Service resumed across the entire line on February 16, 1995, with full service resuming a month later after repairs were completed. Trains continued to operate with speed restrictions until July 21, 1995. Artificial islands, such as

3588-476: The design and construction of E-Defense began in 1998 or 1999 (sources vary), intending to replicate the ground motions of the Great Hanshin earthquake. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries machinery systems designed and constructed the facility, which is located at Miki Earthquake Disaster Memorial Park. Construction of the table's foundation started in 1999 and was completed in 2001. Operations began in 2005 after

3666-463: The duration of the earthquake was between four and ten minutes. Extensive firestorms and a fire whirl added to the death toll. The earthquake had a magnitude of 7.9 on the moment magnitude scale (M w  ), with its focus deep beneath Izu Ōshima Island in Sagami Bay . The cause was a rupture of part of the convergent boundary where the Philippine Sea plate is subducting beneath

3744-432: The earthquake in volume 8. Several places frequented by the protagonist Aria Kanbara, like her boarding school and the house of the rich Nishimikado clan that she is an illegitimate member of, become shelters for the wounded and the homeless. Aria's birth mother is severely injured by debris and later dies, and this triggers a subplot about Aria's own heritage. In Yuu Watase's 2017 josei manga Fushigi Yûgi Byakko Senki ,

3822-453: The earthquake struck Tokyo, and were never in any danger. American Acting Consul General Max David Kirjassoff and his wife Alice Josephine Ballantine Kirjassoff died in the earthquake. The consulate itself lost the entirety of its records in the subsequent fires. Many homes were buried or swept away by landslides in the mountainous and hilly coastal areas in western Kanagawa Prefecture ; about 800 people died. A collapsing mountainside in

3900-596: The earthquake were incinerated. The earthquake broke water mains all over the city, and putting out the fires took until late in the morning of September 3, nearly two full days. A strong typhoon centered off the coast of the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture brought high winds to Tokyo Bay at about the same time as the earthquake. These winds caused fires to spread rapidly. Emperor Taishō and Empress Teimei were staying at Nikko when

3978-546: The earthquake, and it prompted the establishment of antityphoid measures and the building of urban infrastructure. The Honda Point Disaster on the West Coast of the United States, in which seven US Navy destroyers ran aground eight days later, killing 23 sailors, has been attributed in part to navigational errors caused by unusual currents set up by the earthquake in Japan. Beginning in 1960, every September 1

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4056-419: The epicenter, and because it was built to the latest standards. The Akashi Kaikyō Bridge , under construction near the earthquake's epicenter, was undamaged but was reportedly lengthened by a full meter due to horizontal displacement along the activated tectonic fault. Outside Japan the earthquake and disaster are commonly referred to as the Kobe earthquake; in Japan, the earthquake and the disaster caused by it

4134-455: The few buildings that remained standing in the aftermath. In Natsumi's short story Taishō Romance , about a boy in the Reiwa era who became a pen pal with a Taishō-era girl, the story mentions the Great Kantō earthquake, causing the boy unable to contact her. The short story was adapted to the song " Taishō Roman " by Yoasobi , which the music video shows the giant clock pointing to 11:58,

4212-550: The heroine Suzuno Osugi enters The Universe of the Four Gods for the first time right after the earthquake: her father Takao, who is dying from injuries he suffered when the family house fatally collapsed on him and Suzuno's mother Tamayo, orders her to do so, so she will survive the disaster and its aftermath. After a brief time there, she's sent back to the already destroyed Tokyo, and she, alongside her soon-to-be love interest Seiji Horie and two young boys named Hideo and Kenichi,

4290-688: The largest (Mj 3.7) at 18:28 on the previous day. It was the first time that an earthquake in Japan was officially measured at a seismic intensity ( shindo in Japanese) of the highest Level 7 on the scale of Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). After the earthquake, seismic intensity observation in Japan was fully mechanized (from April 1996) and JMA seismic intensity Levels 5 and 6 were each divided into 2 levels (from October 1996). An on-the spot investigation by JMA concluded that tremors by this earthquake were at seismic intensity of Level 7 in particular areas in northern Awaji Island (now Awaji City ) and in

4368-403: The largest earthquakes in Japan are caused by subduction of the Philippine Sea plate or Pacific plate , with mechanisms that involve either energy released within the subducting plate or the accumulation and sudden release of stress in the overlying plate. Earthquakes of these types are especially frequent in the coastal regions of northeastern Japan. The Great Hanshin earthquake belonged to

4446-622: The light rail system running even though it had quite severely damaged sections, shuttle buses were commissioned to transfer patrons to stations around damaged sections. 1923 Great Kant%C5%8D earthquake The Great Kantō earthquake ( 関東大地震 , Kantō dai-jishin, Kantō ō-jishin ) also known in Japanese as Kantō daishinsai ( 関東大震災 ) struck the Kantō Plain on the main Japanese island of Honshū at 11:58:32 JST (02:58:32 UTC ) on Saturday, September 1, 1923. Varied accounts indicate

4524-531: The massacre vary, with most third-party sources citing fatalities ranging from 6,000 to 10,000. Since 1960, September 1 has been designated by the Japanese government as Disaster Prevention Day ( 防災の日 , Bōsai no hi ) , or a day in remembrance of and to prepare for major natural disasters including tsunami and typhoons . Drills, as well as knowledge promotion events, are centered around that date as well as awards ceremonies for people of merit. The SS Dongola 's captain reported that, while he

4602-439: The modern Rokkō Island and especially Port Island in Kobe, suffered severe subsidence due to liquefaction . Water breaking through the surface and flooding those islands was initially believed to have seeped in from the sea, but in fact had been forced out of the soil used to build the islands. The newly completed artificial island supporting Kansai International Airport was not significantly affected, due it being further from

4680-539: The name given to it by the Japan Meteorological Agency the week after the main shock. The quake ravaged many of the facilities of what was then the world's sixth-largest container port and the source of nearly 40% of Kobe's industrial output. The sheer size of the earthquake caused a major decline in Japanese stock markets, with the Nikkei 225 index plunging by 1,025 points on the day following

4758-561: The quake was an important event in the history of volunteerism in Japan. The year 1995 is often regarded as a turning point in the emergence of volunteerism as a major form of civic engagement. In December 1995, the government declared January 17 a national "Disaster Prevention and Volunteerism Day", and the week from January 15 to 21 a national "Disaster Prevention and Volunteerism Week", to be commemorated with lectures, seminars, and other events designed to encourage voluntary disaster preparedness and relief efforts. The earthquake proved to be

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4836-440: The quake. This financial damage was the immediate cause for the collapse of Barings Bank due to the actions of Nick Leeson , who had speculated vast amounts of money on Japanese and Singaporean derivatives. Discussions of Japan's " Lost Decade " tend towards purely economic analysis, and neglect the impact of the earthquake on the Japanese economy which at the time was already suffering from recession. Despite this devastation in

4914-556: The roads and surrounding buildings so as to keep them as intact as possible in the event of another earthquake. Hyōgo's prefectural government invested millions of yen in the following years to build earthquake-proof shelters and supplies in public parks. The Kobe Luminarie is an event held for approximately two weeks every December. A street leading from the Daimaru store in Motomachi to Higashi Yuenchi Park (next to Kobe city hall)

4992-484: The rumor and warning residents against attacking Koreans, but in many cases, vigilante activity only ceased as a result of Army operations against it. In several documented cases, soldiers and policemen participated in the killings, and in other cases, authorities handed groups of Koreans over to local vigilantes, who proceeded to kill them. Amidst the mob violence against Koreans in the Kantō Region, regional police and

5070-478: The rumors as fact, including the allegation that Koreans were poisoning wells. The numerous fires and cloudy well water, a little-known effect of a large quake, all seemed to confirm the rumors of the panic-stricken survivors who were living amidst the rubble. Vigilante groups set up roadblocks in cities, and tested civilians with a shibboleth for supposedly Korean-accented Japanese: deporting, beating, or killing those who failed. Army and police personnel colluded in

5148-596: The southern part of Hyōgo Prefecture , Japan, including the region known as Hanshin . It measured 6.9 on the moment magnitude scale and had a maximum intensity of 7 on the JMA Seismic Intensity Scale (XI–XII on the Modified Mercalli intensity scale ). The tremors lasted for approximately 20 seconds. The focus of the earthquake was located 17 km beneath its epicenter , on the northern end of Awaji Island , 20 km away from

5226-463: The southwest along the Nojima Fault on Awaji and toward the northeast along the Suma and Suwayama faults, which run through the center of Kobe. Observations of deformations in these faults suggest that the area was subjected to east–west compression, which is consistent with previously known crustal movements. Like other earthquakes recorded in western Japan between 1891 and 1948, the 1995 earthquake had

5304-514: The table, at an average of 7.1 experiments per year. Experiments are either projects run by the NIED, projects run jointly by the NIED and other organisations, or run by other organisations. Most of the design and construction time for experiments takes place outside the main E-Defense facility to maximise the use of the table. Experimental structures are placed onto the table using two cranes with

5382-453: The time that the earthquake occurred. The earthquake is recreated in the 1983 asadora Oshin , from episode 114 to 117, showing the financial and human losses the disaster caused, as the new factory Oshin and her husband Ryuzo built is destroyed, and their faithful retainer Genji dies protecting their son Yu. The earthquake becomes a major a plot point as it drives the family to move to Saga, to live with Ryuzo's parents. An incident after

5460-591: The vigilante killings in some areas. Of the 3,000 Koreans taken into custody at the Army Cavalry Regiment base in Narashino , Chiba Prefecture , 10% were killed at the base, or after being released into nearby villages. Moreover, anyone mistakenly identified as Korean, such as Chinese, Ryukyuans , and Japanese speakers of some regional dialects, suffered the same fate. About 700 Chinese, mostly from Wenzhou , were killed. A monument commemorating this

5538-524: The village of Nebukawa, west of Odawara , pushed the entire village and a passenger train carrying over 100 passengers, along with the railway station, into the sea. The RMS Empress of Australia was about to leave Yokohama harbor when the earthquake struck. It narrowly survived and assisted in rescuing 2,000 survivors. A P&O liner, Dongola , was also in the harbor at the moment of disaster and rescued 505 people, taking them to Kobe . A tsunami with waves up to 10 m (33 ft) high struck

5616-584: Was actively involved in the relief effort from the beginning, distributing substantial amounts of food and supplies to needy victims. Aid provided by the Yamaguchi-gumi was particularly crucial in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, due to the failure of the Japanese government to organize effective relief to the area initially. Local hospitals struggled to keep up with demand for medical treatment, largely due to collapsed or obstructed "lifelines" (roads) that kept supplies and personnel from reaching

5694-407: Was anchored in Yokohama's inner harbor: At 11.55 a.m. ship commenced to tremble and vibrate violently and on looking towards the shore it was seen that a terrible earthquake was taking place, buildings were collapsing in all directions and in a few minutes nothing could be seen for clouds of dust. When these cleared away fire could be seen starting in many directions and in half an hour the whole city

5772-716: Was built in 1993 in Wenzhou. In response, the government called upon the Japanese Army and the police to protect Koreans; 23,715 Koreans were placed in protective custody across Japan, 12,000 in Tokyo alone. The chief of police of Tsurumi (or Kawasaki by some accounts) is reported to have publicly drunk the well water to disprove the rumor that Koreans had been poisoning wells. In some towns, even police stations into which Korean people had escaped were attacked by mobs, whereas in other neighborhoods, civilians took steps to protect them. The Army distributed flyers denying

5850-418: Was closed during the day until February 17, 1995, so that emergency vehicles could easily access the hardest-hit areas to the west. It was not until July 29 that all four lanes were opened to traffic along one section. Many surface highways were clogged for some time due to the collapse of higher-capacity elevated highways. Most railways in the region were damaged. In the aftermath of the earthquake, only 30% of

5928-496: Was heightened by fear of the Korean independence movement . In the confusion after the quake, mass murder of Koreans by mobs occurred in urban Tokyo and Yokohama, fueled by rumors of rebellion and sabotage. The government reported that 231 Koreans were killed by mobs in Tokyo and Yokohama in the first week of September. Independent reports said the number of dead was far higher, ranging from 6,000 to 10,000. Some newspapers reported

6006-599: Was in flames. This earthquake devastated Tokyo , the port city of Yokohama , and the surrounding prefectures of Chiba , Kanagawa , and Shizuoka , and caused widespread damage throughout the Kantō region. The earthquake's force was so great that in Kamakura , over 60 km (37 mi) from the epicenter, it moved the Great Buddha statue, which weighs about 121 tonnes, almost 60 centimeters. Estimated casualties totaled about 142,800 deaths, including about 40,000 who went missing and were presumed dead. According to

6084-483: Was the most graphic image of the earthquake, and images of the collapsed elevated Kobe Route of the Hanshin Expressway appeared on front pages of newspapers worldwide. Most people in Japan believed those structures to be relatively safe from earthquake damage because of the steel-reinforced concrete design. Although the initial belief was that construction had been negligent, it was later shown that most of

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