The Japanese proverb says "Earthquakes, fires and father are the worst punishments" .It is not surprising that the earthquakes in this list stand in the first place - Japan is at the junction of the Asian and Pacific tectonic layers, the friction of which often causes tremors .Every year, the Japanese islands feel thousands of small tremors, and sometimes there are destructive earthquakes of monstrous power .In March 2011, the whole world watched the disaster off the eastern coast of Honshu Island - the earthquake that occurred in the Pacific became the strongest in the history of Japan .From the powerful tsunami, the coastal areas suffered severely, but the country's capital, located 373 km from the epicenter, was not destroyed .

Earthquakes in Tokyo

It should be noted that modern Tokyo is one of the most earthquake-protected cities in the world. Residents of Tokyo know that their city stands at the intersection of four tectonic plates, so almost do not pay attention to 3-4 minor earthquakes a year, which are very frightening visitors. Most of the skyscrapers are constructed taking into account possible earthquakes and are designed so that the energy of the thrust is extinguished without destroying the building.

A new earthquake in Japan?

Shocks of 1, 5 points (on average) occur in Tokyo daily and due to seismic-resistant structures do not affect the life-span in the city .However, if a really strong earthquake happens, then all these measures will be useless .Unfortunately, such a threat really exists .Moreover, recent forecasts from the University of Tokyo indicate a 50% probability of a 7-point earthquake in the capital region in the next 4 years .In this case, the damage can be enormous: tens of thousands of people will suffer and hundreds of thousands of houses will be destroyed .Do not underestimate the economic damage to this event for the whole of Japan, which has not yet recovered from the consequences of the 2011 disaster .

History

In the history of Tokyo, many sad pages, when the city literally disappeared from the face of the earth and reborn from the ashes like a phoenix. One of these disasters is the Great Kanto earthquake that occurred in 1923. Then in the ruins were left Tokyo and 10 other nearby cities, including Yokohama and Yokosuku. And in another two decades, the newly built city was virtually destroyed by a large-scale bombardment of US air forces that left more than a million inhabitants of Tokyo at night from 9 to 10 March 1945.

Strength of character and psychology of the Japanese people

It seems surprising how quickly each city was restored. Already in 1964, Tokyo hosted the Summer Olympics - the whole world saw modern sports complexes built in a short time, a television tower - today's Tokio symbol, monorail roads. The secret here lies, apparently, in the national Japanese character. Persistence, patience, and a developed sense of duty are the main characteristics of the Japanese.

In the days of the 2011 disaster, the media often wrote that there is no looting in the disaster zones, that, despite the scale of the incident, there is no panic in society, and there are not any distraught people .Courage and endurance of the Japanese people - that's what the first catches in the reports from Japan those days .The Japanese, like no one, can overcome the difficulties arising from natural disasters, and stoically take blows of fate .We can only hope that they will not have to prove this skill once again, and the predictions that one of the next underground blows will cause the complete disappearance of the Japanese islands from the map of the world will remain a story for disaster films .

The Japanese do not give up: they are still building skyscrapers

Airports in Japan have a specific architecture

But the main thing is the strength of character, which helps the Japanese to survive and triumph, no matter what