Tokyo Races Against Quake That Will Shake World on `X' Day
- Experts cite 70 percent chance of the Big One within 30 years
- Earthquake under Tokyo could kill as many as 23,000 people
Commercial buildings stand in the Marunouchi and Otemachi districts in this aerial photograph taken in Tokyo, Japan, on Wednesday, June 24, 2015. The Abe administration aims to cap increases in spending as it tries to rein in the world's heaviest debt load while sustaining a recovery from two decades of stagnation.
Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/BloombergThere’s nothing comical about this manga comic: office building windows shatter, trains derail and cars plunge from buckling bridges. It all happens at 4:35 p.m. on a day dubbed “Tokyo’s X Day.”
This catastrophic scenario is depicted in a 300-page book on earthquake preparedness published by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. The book, which includes tips on how to make fly traps to rid evacuation centers of the pests, begins with a weighty warning: Experts say there’s a 70 percent chance of a quake directly hitting the greater Tokyo area, home to 36 million people, within the next three decades.