The early autumn of 1959 is a very busy time for Nagoya citizens in Japan. The whole city is busy, preparing for the 70th anniversary. People decorate boats and prepare flowers, bands, speeches and fireworks for Daqing. Even invited the twin cities delegation from Los Angeles, California to attend the celebration.
On Sunday, September 20th, while people were preparing to celebrate the festival with great interest, ominous news came from the Japan Meteorological Administration: the tropical depression, which appeared 518km southeast of Saipan Island in the Mariana Islands in the Pacific Ocean, was moving northwest. The next day, the pressure turned into a tropical storm, and by Tuesday, it turned into a typhoon. The Meteorological Bureau immediately issued a typhoon warning and named it "Vera", numbered 59 15. This shows that the typhoon is TyphoonNo. 15 formed in 1959.
From Wednesday to Friday, the typhoon slowly advanced towards Japan, but its intensity did not weaken at all. On Saturday night, a typhoon hit Japan, sweeping the coast of Honshu Island, with winds as high as 260 kilometers per hour.
Although the flight has been grounded, the news that the typhoon is approaching Japan has not caused much panic among the Japanese. What residents do is hang up the windshield, buy some spare items and fill large and small containers with drinking water. Storm warnings have long been commonplace for Japanese people, especially in September. In their eyes, typhoons usually last only about a week, and the route will change as they say. Fierce typhoons often weaken into tropical storms or suddenly turn and disappear into the sea.
Although three or four typhoons hit Japan every year, causing casualties, and the loss caused by each typhoon reached $6,543,800+,the Japanese fatalism was extremely serious. They believe that natural disasters such as typhoons and tsunamis, volcanic eruptions or earthquakes cannot be prevented or avoided, and it is better to let nature take its course for the inevitable.
In addition, the Japanese have long regarded typhoons as a symbol of good luck. As early as 1274 and 128 1, Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan, the first emperor of China Yuan Dynasty, twice tried to lead a large number of Mongolian troops to organize a fleet to attack Japan, but each time he was attacked by a violent typhoon. The typhoon disrupted Kublai Khan's line-up, sank his ship and bankrupted his attempt to occupy Japan. Since then, the Japanese have called typhoons "kamikaze".
Some Japanese experts also pointed out that this storm has made an extremely important contribution to the development of Japan's economy. The rainfall they bring accounts for 8% of the annual rainfall in Japan. In other words, the storm will bring 50 million tons of fresh water to Japan every year.
For the above reasons, although the typhoon warning warned people that Nagoya would be hit by a typhoon and would suffer heavy losses, residents in Nagoya and surrounding towns ignored the threat of typhoon for five consecutive days. However, the intensity of the typhoon did not weaken, and the typhoon did not relax, turning and disappearing into the sea. Facts have proved that this typhoon is the most destructive natural disaster in Japan's modern history and one of the most serious natural disasters in the world.
On Saturday night, just as the tide was rising, the typhoon began to hit Nagoya. The waves formed a huge wall more than 5 meters high and repeatedly attacked Nagoya with great power. As long as it hits an obstacle, the waves will throw the sea water more than 6 meters high and make an earth-shattering noise. Dams, dikes, docks, bridges and other buildings were destroyed by the impact of waves. Crazy waves also leveled the city's timber yard, washed down piles of logs, threw them into the air and hit the houses on the street like hail.
At this time, the wind speed has reached 220 kilometers per hour. It overturned the roof and threw bricks and tiles in all directions. The flood from Izmir Bay flooded into the city, causing many people to take their houses before fleeing. Only those smart people can make a hole in the roof and escape. When a large apartment building collapsed, all 84 people in the building were buried in the rubble and mud.
After three hours of strong typhoon attack, there were articles and rubble everywhere, which was devastated. On Sunday morning, 65,438+0/3 of Nagoya was still submerged, and the rest were all rubble, mud and scattered logs. The streets are full of bodies. During the typhoon, 2 1 ships were thrown onto the coast of Nagoya, including 7 ocean-going ships.
After the typhoon, due to the lack of food and drinking water, some survivors plunged into the dirty water regardless of dirty water and muddy water, salvaging food from flooded kitchens or vegetable fields, and many people suffered from dysentery. Some people cling to TV sets or motorcycles when a typhoon strikes, and refuse others' help in order not to give up these precious possessions.
The rescue work has finally begun. The army used helicopters to throw food and other supplies to higher places, and took the sick and seriously injured on the plane, or sent many people trapped on the roof to safer areas. Nevertheless, a week after the typhoon hit, 25,000 people who were hungry and cold were still trapped on the roof.
The news of the towns around Nagoya gradually spread to Nagoya. Almost every town or village near Ise Bay is completely or mostly related to the ocean. In Toyota, southeast of Nagoya, huge waves destroyed 250 houses. The known death toll is 300 and hundreds are missing. In another town, a landslide buried 60 people from 12 families alive under the soil. In short, 38 of Japan's 47 counties were severely damaged.
About 200,000 hectares of arable land have been deserted. All the fruits, rice and vegetables in the field were destroyed. Flocks of livestock were drowned, wires and telephone lines were broken, radio and television towers collapsed, cranes overturned, airport facilities were damaged, and all factories in the central part of the state were closed. The national railway transportation system was interrupted, 22 trains derailed and countless tracks were broken. According to official statistics, the death toll caused by this typhoon is as high as 5,000, hundreds of people are missing, more than 30,000 people are injured, and 40,000 families are damaged. The total loss is equivalent to 2 billion US dollars. After the disaster, the Japanese people immediately threw themselves into the work of rebuilding their homes. In a short time, Nagoya and its surrounding towns healed their wounds and people devoted themselves to normal life and construction. Standing on the roof of Nagoya City, the golden sea animals were not destroyed by the typhoon, but still stood tall, becoming a symbol of the city's indomitable and permanent survival.
Although 1959, shortly after the super typhoon in Nagoya, the Japanese people resumed their normal life and construction in a very short time. But for everyone who has experienced this storm,1September 20, 959 is unforgettable in memory. That kind of despair and chaos, like the coming of the end of the world, can never be erased from memory.
Why the predicted typhoon will still bring such heavy losses? To some extent, it should be attributed to the carelessness of Japanese residents and their extremely serious fatalism. In their view, natural disasters such as typhoons, tsunamis and earthquakes cannot be prevented or avoided, and it is better to let nature take its course for unavoidable things. In addition, the Japanese have long been accustomed to storm warning. Therefore, under the continuous typhoon forecast, the Japanese people did not pay attention to this super typhoon, which led people to resign when the typhoon struck violently. This should also be the lesson left by this disaster!
Obviously, it is realistic and wise for human beings to take corresponding measures before the disaster reaches a serious level.