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N0KFQ > TODAY 02.09.13 17:29l 54 Lines 2507 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 4003_KB0WSA
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Subj: Today in History - Sep 2
Path: IZ3LSV<IW0QNL<JH4XSY<F1OYP<PI8SNK<N0KFQ<KB0WSA
Sent: 130902/1457Z 4003@KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA BPQK1.4.55
Sep 2, 1923:
Great Tokyo Fire continues to blaze
On this day in 1923, aftershocks and out-of-control fires
continue to rock Tokyo, Japan, and the surrounding area following
a massive earthquake. In total, 143,000 people died in the
disaster, which is known both as the Great Kwanto Earthquake and
the Great Tokyo Fire, as the fire caused by the earthquake was
more deadly and destructive than the earthquake itself.
At about noon on September 1, an 8.3-magnitude quake, centered in
Sagami Bay near Oshima Island, about 50 miles southeast of Tokyo,
struck the area. The shaking continued for nearly five minutes,
causing some buildings to collapse, including the 12-story
Asakusa Tower, which split before giving way. There were
innumerable fires in the immediate aftermath. As it was
lunchtime, many people in the area were cooking food over
hibachis when the earthquake hit and the overturned hibachis
caused thousands of small fires in traditional Japanese wooden
homes. Along the coast, many of these fires were put out by the
40-foot tsunami that came ashore in several locations.
Hundreds of aftershocks continued into the next day and
exacerbated the situation. There were so many fires in Tokyo that
the conditions produced tornadoes of fire. As the blazes sucked
in tremendous amounts of oxygen, literal windstorms of fire swept
the city. The resulting dense clouds of carbon dioxide were
deadly. Approximately 30,000 people died at a park near the
Sumida River from the fumes. Meanwhile, efforts to fight the
fires were largely futile because the water mains were broken by
the shaking and roads were blocked. Thousands of people, though,
were saved when the Empress of Australia cruise ship carried them
out to sea and away from the fires.
In the end, thousands of square miles were devastated. Eighty
percent of the nearby city of Yokohama was destroyed, as well as
approximately 60 percent of Tokyo. The Imperial University
Library, housing some of the oldest and rarest books and art in
the world, was lost. The Imperial Hotel, designed by Frank Lloyd
Wright, sank two feet into the ground but still managed to stand.
About 9,000 factories were destroyed, causing damage to the
region's economy that lasted years after the earthquake.
Compounding the tragedy, some Japanese blamed Korean immigrants
for the fires and killed hundreds of innocent people in the days
following the disaster.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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