894.48B/498
The Chargé in Japan (Caffery) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 23.]
Sir: With reference to previous reports on the subject of loss of life and property in the great earthquake of September 1st, 1923, I have the honor to report that the Social Bureau of the Home Office now announces that the number of families in the devastated regions which suffered “heavy damage” was 684,409, while the number of people killed or seriously injured was 160,000.
[Page 502]According to the Bureau, more damage was caused by the fire following the earthquake than by the earthquake, as will be seen in the following table:
Afflicted Families
| Buildings | No. of Families | |
| Entirely burned | 381,090 | |
| Partly burned | 517 | |
| Totally crushed | 73,607 | |
| Partly crushed | 91,233 | |
| Washed away by tidal waves | 1,390 | |
| Damaged | 136,572 | |
| Total | 684,409 | |
Another table furnished by the Social Bureau gives the percentage of afflicted families in relation to the total number of families as follows: Percentages of Loss
| Districts | Percentage of Afflicted Families |
| Tokyo City | 77.91 |
| Tokyo Prefecture | 49.70 |
| Yokohama City | 94.03 |
| Kanagawa Prefecture | 85.72 |
The number of deaths, missing and injured is given as follows:
| Killed | 91,344 |
| Missing | 13,275 |
| Severely injured | 16,514 |
| Injured | 35,560 |
The total number of deaths, 91,344, includes 43,299 men and 48,045 women.
These figures are, of course, open to question and the consensus of opinion in the vernacular press seems to be that they are rather too conservative.
I have [etc.]