TOKYO EARTHQUAKE DISASTER PREDICTED

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30485, 6 July 1964, Page 11

TOKYO EARTHQUAKE DISASTER PREDICTED

(N.Z.P. A.-Reuter—Copyright) TOKYO, July 5. The head of Tokyo University’s Earthquake Research Institute (Dr. Hiroshi Kawasumi) has told a committee of the Japanese House of Representatives that the time is nearing when a major earthquake could be expected in Tokyo and the Kanto Plains surrounding the capital.

Dr. Kawasumi told the Lower House special committee on disaster measures that on the basis of past statistics “the time for a major earthquake is nearing.” He said: “Concrete predictions concerning earthquakes, except in cases of absolute certainty, can not be generally released because of the major social effects.” Dr. Kawasumi said statistics showed a major earthquake occurred in the Kamakura area (on the coast near Tokyo) once every 69 years. In view of the fact that the last devastating earthquake in the area—the great Kanto earthquake—occurred 41 years ago in 1923, the time for another major earthquake in the area was nearing, he said. 100,009 Died

More than 100,000 people died in the 1923 earthquake and the fires which swept the area immediately afterwards. Dr. Kawasumi said that some areas of Tokyo would be turned into “seas of flame" if there was a major earthquake. Unless people in the area could escape within five hours, a major tragedy would occur,, he said.

Dr. Kawasumi appealed for measures to cope with a disaster in the Tokyo area.