Human consequences
About 1.9 million people left homeless.
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EarthquakeGreat Kantō earthquake
105,000Deaths
1.9MDisplaced / homeless
Not quantifiedEstimated cost
- About 105,000 dead and missing.
A magnitude 7.9 earthquake strikes at lunchtime, when cooking fires are lit. Giant fires and a fire whirl, which alone kills about 38,000 people sheltering on an open ground, ravage Tokyo and Yokohama.
Consequences
Environmental consequences
Tsunami and landslides in Sagami Bay.
Economic consequences
The cost of reconstruction contributes to the Shōwa financial crisis of 1927.
Political consequences
Rumours trigger the massacre of thousands of Koreans. 1 September has become Japan’s national Disaster Prevention Day.
Further reading
Similar disasters
- Haiyuan earthquakeEarthquake · China1920
- Kobe earthquakeEarthquake · Japan1995
- Tangshan earthquakeEarthquake · China1976
- Kashmir earthquakeEarthquake · Pakistan and India2005
In the rankings : The deadliest earthquakes in history No. 6
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