The earthquake struck just before noon, when thousands of households across Tokyo and Yokohama had lunchtime cooking fires burning. Overturned stoves in a city of timber and paper buildings ignited fires that merged into firestorms, including a fire tornado that killed tens of thousands sheltering in an open army depot.
Fire, not shaking, caused the large majority of deaths — a pattern that has shaped Japanese urban planning ever since, with wide firebreak roads, non-combustible construction requirements and mass public drills every 1 September, still observed as Disaster Prevention Day.
The disaster also produced a dark social aftermath: false rumours led to the massacre of thousands of ethnic Koreans and other minorities in the following days, a widely documented episode in modern Japanese history.
Why this event still matters
Historical incidents shape the rules that protect people today — building codes, evacuation policy, warning systems and inspection regimes almost always trace back to a specific disaster. Studying Great Kantō Earthquake alongside current events is how preparedness improves.
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