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The Sanriku Earthquake: The Japan Earthquake

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It was a normal summer morning in the busy and bustling city in Japan. People were living a normal life as usual; laborers went to work; student went to school; housewives were preparing for lunch. The view and the noise in the city remained the same. People from all walks of life were enjoying their day, and everything seemed so peace and calm. No one would have expected that something rare might have happened, especially something that might drastically change their lives. Right after the peaceful morning, the seismic shock suddenly started. It soon became the worst nightmare of Japanese citizens. On September 1st, 1923, a dreadful disaster struck Japan. At 11:58 a.m. (UTC+9, 10:58 in Hong Kong), a major earthquake with magnitude 7.9 (in …show more content…

It was caused by the subduction of the Philippine Sea Plate under the Okhotsk Plate. The focus was under Izu Oshima Island. After the principal earthquake, there are two major aftershocks with magnitude 7.3 and 7.2. The three earthquakes lasted for more than eight minutes in total. The previous major earthquake happened 27 years ago in 1896, which is known as Sanriku earthquake. It caused more than two thousand deaths. The dreadful fear should have been deeply rooted in Japanese’s mind. However, Sanriku earthquake happened in the northeast part of Japan and also the north part, Hokkatdo. Compared with the Great Kantō Earthquake, Sanriku earthquake happened in a population relatively sparse area. Therefore, most people were still not aware of the potential power of this mighty earthquake. In addition, there was no such event that caused so many fatalities. In the 1905 Russo-Japanese war, about 47 thousands of Japanese were killed dead. The war lasted for about seven months; however, the earthquake was in just a moment, and people lacked …show more content…

The earthquake brought substantial changes to the citizens. What the government should do urgently is to deal with the social turbulence currently. Fear, agitation, and hopeless are growing in the society, and when these feelings flood in the public, riot may erupt. It would be challenging for the government to control the situation if the turbulence is not properly handled. Furthermore, the community will not be able to cooperate with rebuilding the city when the government loses the power over the entire nation. Consequently, it is imperative that the government reduces the negative emotions in the

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