Japan’s Economic History

Poverty  from  Japan’s  Past  Natural  Disasters    

August 31, 2010

In  1996  the  Sakurajima  Volcano  erupted  forty-­‐two  times  in  January,  thirty-­‐one  times  in  February  and  sixty-­‐nine  times  in  March.  It  was  the  second  largest  volcano  of  1996.  The  volcano  erupted  200  times  throughout  that  whole  year!  In  the  year  1995,  it  erupted  approximately  3-­‐4  million  tons  of  material  according  to  the  Sakurajima  Volcanological  Observatory  of  Kyoto  University.  In  January  1996  an  eruption  column  rose  three  kilometers  destroying  handfuls  of  houses  in  the  area.  

In  1991  Super  Typhoon  Mireille  crossed  Japan  in  September,  making  it  the  deadliest  typhoon  of  the  1991.  It  was  a  category  four  typhoon  with  240  km/h  winds,  lasting  twelve  days.  The  typhoon  created  16.1  billion  dollars  in  damage.  More  than  20,000  buildings  were  destroyed.  Power  outages  affected  six  million  people,  10,000  people  were  left  homeless  and  a  total  of  52  people  were  killed  from  the  flooding  and  high  winds.  Mireille  was  the  costliest  natural  disaster  of  1991.  

These  past  natural  disasters  in  Japan  have  led  to  destruction  of  housing  and  businesses,  which  has  created  poverty  throughout  the  country  and  is  predicted  to  continue  to  rise  drastically.  

 

 

In  Japan  there  have  been  many  horrible  natural  disasters  over  the  past  decade.  The  Great  Kanto  earthquake  in  1923,  the  Hakko-­‐da  tsunami  in  1993,  the  Sakurajima  Volcano  explosion  in  1996  and  Typhoon  Mireille  in  1991  are  counted  as  some  of  those  natural  disasters.  

In  1923  the  Great  Kanto  earthquake  occurred  on  the  Japanese  main  island  of  Honshu  killing  140,000  people,  making  it  the  deadliest  earthquake  to  hit  Japan.  There  were  57-­‐recorded  aftershocks.  Over  570,000  homes  were  destroyed,  leaving  1.9  million  living  on  the  streets.  The  damage  was  estimated  to  have  exceeded  one  billion  U.S.  dollars  in  1923.  

On  July  12,  1993  a  large  earthquake  stroke  off  the  west  coast  of  Hokkaido  and  on  the  island  of  Okushiri,  generating  a  destructive  tsunami.  A  total  of  239  people  were  killed.  More  than  half  of  the  deaths  were  attributed  to  the  tsunami.  A  total  of  558  houses  were  destroyed.  There  were  about  $600  million  in  property  losses  caused  mainly  by  the  tsunami.  

Japan News

Written by: Bridget John