Kanto earthquake

Remember back when Japan's Kanto region got hit by that earthquake? I was back over in the US, the only country i've been to (so far). I saw the devastating pictures and it puzzled me how there was barely any deaths at all. Did anyone happen to see that Grocery Store picture? (The carts were flipped onto the side!!!!!) I was so puzzled... Anyone want to discuss any experiences involving it?

What earthquake? Give us details, please. What I know is that Japan is quite ready for earthquakes, so it's not surprising if it doesn't cause much deaths.

Well, not criticising, but, unless you consider an earthquake amusing, this is not the proper board.

I don't know what you're talking about exactly. The only Kanto earthquake that has a name is the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 and that killed over 100 thousand people. The only other famous quake in Japan is the Kobe quake, which was in the 90s and it destroyed tons of buildings and also killed lots of people.

In any case, Japan gets earthquakes often enough, but most buildings are designed to withstand them and people there are quite prepared in terms of earthquake disaster relief and that sort of thing. It's very uncommon for an earthquake anywhere to cause widespread death and destruction, Haiti being a recent and unfortunate exception.

I'm guessing you're talking about the Kobe earthquake?

My aunt, grandfather and grandmother lives in Tsuchiyama, no so far off from Kobe.
I recall receiving a phone call early morning (was at Hong Kong at the time) from my aunt, reassuring us that none of them were harmed.
The only thing they suffered were minor bruises and lots of broken glass, since my grandmother runs the local window store.

As for my grandfather, he was really lucky. He was working overtime at his Kobe office a day before the quake, and if he was unlucky enough that the date got shifted to the next day... needless to say, he probably would have died because his office building was wrecked.

I went back to Japan during the Easter holidays of the same year. We passed by Kobe on my grandfather's car and despite the effort to rebuild, we still saw patches of rubble and debris from fallen buildings. A lot of people had to wear masks too, since the dust from the rubble (asbestos?) was really thick.

... Nobody knows what i'm talking about? Ugh, It was probably a minor one, I just remember seeing it on the news about a year ago. I feel stupid.