Sept. 1, known as Disaster Prevention Day, was designated as such by the government in 1960. On this day every year, cities and towns nationwide, as well as schools, companies and even small community groups, run evacuation drills to prepare for natural disasters such as typhoons, landslides and earthquakes.
More and more, the younger generation doesn't know why Sept. 1 is designated as Disaster Prevention Day. The government chose it because it was on that date that the massive Great Kanto Earthquake nearly Tokyo and the surrounding areas in 1923. The magnitude-7.9 quake resulted in more than 100,000 dead or missing.
Today, as reconstruction and rehabilitation projects are progressing in Miyagi, Fukushima, and Yamagata prefectures, damage caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, is being repaired, even as some areas experience delays. Today, the governments of those disaster-hit areas are fighting against something intangible; being forgotten.
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