Disaster in the sky 74 years ago

Nearly everyone is familiar with the images of the 「ヒンデンブルク」 (Hindenburg) disaster.

The shot of it bursting into flames just as it was landing in New Jersey, USA on it’s three-day flight from Germany is one of the most famous photographs in the world.

The hard rock band Led Zeppelin used it on the cover of their 1969 debut album.

Led Zeppelin I

But did you know that the Hindenburg disaster happened on 1937 May 6…seventy-four years ago today?
Neither did I. But that’s one of the wonders of living in the Information Age. Without even leaving my living room I can check Wikipedia‘s page about the Hindenburg and learn that there were only 97 passengers and crew on board the zeppelin on it’s fatal journey…and most managed to survive somehow. There were 36 fatalities.

Besides the famous shot of the Hindenburg burning, the radio news announcer, Herbert Morrison’s broadcast is also well-known. Especially his line:

“Oh, the humanity!”
–Herbert Morrison

Another wonder of the internet is YouTube.
I was able to find a YouTube video showing a newsreel from 1937 about the Hindenburg Disaster:

Treasured items after the Sendai Earthquake

The 「毎日新聞」 (“Mainichi News”) Japanese newspaper interviewed some of the survivors of the March 11 earthquake in the 東北地方 (Tohoku Region) who lost loved ones and most of their possessions and asked them to show something that has become a treasure to them in this difficult time.

Some of the replies were very touching. Here are a sample of them (all photos in this post are ©毎日新聞 (Mainichi News)):

This 11-year-old boy, who lost his grandfather and great-grandmother in the earthquake, treasures his school bag that his teacher found in the rubble of his elementary school.

This man treasures the wrist-watch that was found on the body of his son, that was a firefighter who died in the disaster

This 4-year old girl's family lost all of their possessions. She treasures the donated toy that was given to her at the shelter her family's staying at.

This woman lost her husband in the tsunami. She treasures her family photos.

This eldery man's wife has been missing since the tsunami. He put his hand on his heart and said that he will always treasure his memories.

One week later

It’s now 2:47PM on Friday, 2011 March 18th. The biggest earthquake in Japan’s recorded history struck at 2:46PM on Friday, 2011 March 11th…exactly one week ago.

The giant tsunami that was triggered by the earthquake

I wrote this post at 2:47PM and not at 2:46 (the time the ‘quake struck) because at 2:46PM, all of Japan offered one-minute of silence to honor the victims of the tragedy.

It’s one week later and of course too soon for there to have been much significant improvement or recovery from such a major disaster.

Boat left on a house by the tsunami.

Between the search for survivors, rebuilding the intensely damaged areas, and getting the nuclear power plant back under control…Japan is facing a huge challenge. All the while earthquake aftershocks are still occurring…even down here in Tokyo.
But I’m confident life will be back to “normal” soon enough.

Earthquake

Yesterday was the fifteenth anniversary of the 阪神淡路大震災 (Kobe Earthquake).
It was a level 7 earthquake that flatten the Kobe area of Japan and killed over 6,000 people.

Click here to read the post that I wrote about the fourteenth anniversary of this quake last year.

And one year earlier, in 1994, an earthquake hit southern California in America.
Both the California earthquake and the Kobe earthquake happened on January 17th…only a year apart.

Of course everyone knows about the recent earthquake in Haiti last Tuesday.
Hopefully that country can recover from the damage soon.

I hate earthquakes but they’re a fact of life in this part of the world.
Growing up in Florida I never experienced an earthquake until I came to Japan.

The fifteenth anniversary of the Kobe, Japan earthquake and the sixteenth anniversary of the California one…as well as last week’s quake in Haiti made me remember the major earthquakes that happened around the world in the twenty years since I came to Japan.

Do you remember:
△ 1990 June – a level 7 earthquake killed about 50,000 people in Iran,

△ 1991 October – a level 6.8 earthquake killed about 2,000 people in India,

△ 1992 December – a level 7.8 earthquake killed about 2,500 people in Indonesia,

△ 1993 September – a level 6 earthquake killed about 9,700 people in India,

△ 1994 January 17 – a level 6.8 earthquake killed about 60 people in California, USA,

△ 1995 January 17 – a level 7 earthquake killed about 6,000 people in Kobe, Japan,

△ 1996 February – a level 6 earthquake killed about 300 people in China,

△ 1997 May – a level 7 earthquake killed about 1,500 people in Iran,

△ 1998 May – a level 6.6 earthquake killed about 4,000 people in Afghanistan,

△ 1999 August – a level 7.6 earthquake killed about 17,000 people in Turkey,

△ 2000 June – a level 7.9 earthquake killed about 100 people in Indonesia,

△ 2001 January – a level 7.7 earthquake killed about 20,000 people in India,

△ 2002 March – a level 6 earthquake killed about 1,000 people in Afghanistan,

△ 2003 September 25 – a level 8.3 earthquake killed zero people in Hokkaido, Japan,

△ 2003 December 26 – a level 6.6 earthquake killed about 31,000 people in Iran,

△ 2004 December 26 – a level 9 earthquake killed about 228,000 people in Sumatra,

△ 2005 March 28- a level 8.6 earthquake killed about 1,300 people in Sumatra,

△ 2005 October – a level 7.6 earthquake killed about 80,000 people in Pakistan,

△ 2006 May – a level 6 earthquake killed about 5,700 people in Indonesia,

△ 2007 August – a level 8 earthquake killed about 500 people in Peru,

△ 2008 May – a level 7.9 earthquake killed about 87,500 people in China,

△ 2009 September – a level 7.5 earthquake killed about 1,100 people in Indonesia,

△ 2010 January 12 – a level 7 earthquake in Haiti (death toll currently unknown).

Have you ever experienced an 地震 (earthquake)?