Tokyo quake could kill 13 000

2005-02-28 10:21

Tokyo - A major earthquake in Tokyo would kill 13 000 people, inflict $1.1 trillion in damage and force millions into shelters, a government panel warned on Friday, urging tremor-prone Japan to be even better prepared.

If a quake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale were to hit the Tokyo region about 18:00, it would also displace 4.6 million people, the panel said.

The report, parts of which were released to the media in December, said the disaster would cause ¥112 trillion ($1.1 trillion) worth of damage to buildings, infrastructure and lower economic production.

The panel said 4.6 million people would be forced to live in emergency shelters or be otherwise displaced.

"They are unimaginable figures," said Shigeru Ito, the chair of the panel, who heads the government-backed Urban Disaster Research Institute.

"It is expected that not all of the displaced people would find places in shelters. Rather, about a half of them would only receive rations of food and water," he said.

Four tectonic plates

Ito urged the government to encourage and support individual homeowners to take measures against major quakes and fires.

Japan, which lies at the crossing of four tectonic plates, endures about 20% of the world's powerful earthquakes, frequently jolting Tokyo and other major cities where buildings are made to be tremor resistant.

On January 17 1995, the western city of Kobe experienced a pre-dawn tremor, registering 7.3 on the Richter scale, that killed 6 433 people.

The Kobe quake was the most devastating in modern times to hit a city in the developed world.

In autumn, nearly one million Japanese took part in earthquake preparation drills to mark another anniversary - that of the 1923 Great Kanto earthquake which devastated the Tokyo region leaving 142 807 people dead or unaccounted for.

- AFP