Real Impacts due to the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake on Japan

Year of 2023 is the 100th anniversary of the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake in Japan. This earthquake caused one of the largest natural disasters in Japan's history and left various impacts on Japan. Total economic loss estimated was over 40 % of Japan's GDP which was over four times larger than the general budget of Japan at that time. Approximately 105,000 people were killed and 87.1 % of them were killed by spread of fires. Fatalities by structural collapse was over 10,000 and this was twice that of the 1995 Kobe earthquake. Compared with these damages, Tsunamis and landslides, which were relatively small but killed approximately 1,000 people, were also sufficiently large compared to other past earthquake disasters in Japan. Also, many people were killed by the problem of false rumors. Therefore, the Great Kanto Earthquake’s impacts have been often discussed from the viewpoint of spread fires, large structural damage and the problem of false rumors, etc.

However, it is not enough to treat its impacts on Japan, mainly caused by natural and physical phenomena. In this paper, taking a bird's-eye view of the historical background of the Great Kanto Earthquake and the history of Japan since then, the various impacts on Japan including social problems, such as politics and economics created by the earthquake disaster are discussed. Based on the discussion, it can be said that the Great Kanto Earthquake was an inflection point that drastically changed the course of a country which was headed toward a democratic nation under the democratic movement in the Taisho Era called Taisho democracy. It was because recovery and reconstruction from the large-scale damage in the Tokyo metropolitan region required strong leadership and governance. As a result, just 22 years after the earthquake, over 3-million Japanese, including civilians, lost their lives in World War II, leading Japan to defeat.

As a result, just 22 years after the earthquake, over 3-million Japanese, including civilians, lost their lives in World War II, which affected Japan a lot after the war. The lessons learned from this disaster will be very useful for considering proper countermeasures for a large earthquake currently expected to hit Dhaka city.