Disaster Relief Operations by the Imperial Japanese Navy and the US Navy in...

[Grey Havoc]

...the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake.

Foreword

The Great East Japan Earthquake that occurred on March 11, 2011 caused a series of tsunamis beyond our imagination and the nuclear accident at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, resulting in damage of an unprecedented scale. We have received numerous aid and support from other countries. In particular, the assistance provided by the US Navy in Japan is incomparable to that provided by other countries in terms of the response in its initial actions and scale. How have the Imperial Japanese Navy and the US Navy cooperated during past disasters in Japan? In this paper, I will examine the relief operations by the Imperial Japanese Navy in the Taisho Kanto Quake and subsequent damages that occurred about 90 years ago (hereinafter collectively referred to as the “1923 Great Kanto Earthquake”) and those of the US Asiatic Fleet whose base was in Qingdao, China, during the Qing Dynasty in the initial 2 weeks shortly after the occurrence of the earthquake.

http://www.mod.go.jp/msdf/navcol/SSG/review/1-2/eng_1-2-4.pdf