The earthquake that struck the Tokyo region two minutes before noon on 1 September 1923 was so powerful that it destroyed the central weather bureau’s seismometers.
Over almost two days, fires triggered by household gas burners, chemicals and overhead wires raged through the wooden buildings of eastern Tokyo’s low-lying neighbourhoods.
By the time the blazes had been extinguished or burned themselves out, an estimated 105,000 people were dead or missing and most of
