Estimated Death Toll Set At 23,000 If Quake Strikes Beneath Tokyo

Above, a view of Tokyo from Tokyo Tower. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

A new study released by the Central Disaster Prevention Council revises upward the number of casualties if a temblor should strike beneath the Tokyo metropolitan area. This is sure to not let people rest easier.

According to an article in The Mainichi Shimbun:

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Up to 23,000 people may be killed and economic damage may reach 95.3 trillion yen if a magnitude 7.3 earthquake occurs directly beneath the Tokyo metropolitan area, the government said in a report Thursday. 

That is more than double the 11,000 dead estimated in 2005 by the same panel, the Central Disaster Prevention Council, as it assessed more severely the damage caused by fires in residential areas crowded with wooden houses around downtown Tokyo. The panel also said rescue efforts might be hampered by traffic jams.

The islands of Japan sit on the Pacific "ring of fire" which has a long history of major earthquakes. I've felt at least two quakes in Tokyo that I can recall. One was in October 2005 and the other was in December 2010. Neither of them compared to the biggest one I've ever felt, the January 1994 Northridge Earthquake (whose 20th anniversary is coming next month).

To read the full article, go here.