[S-SS12] Active faults and paleoseismology

[SSS12-P09] Damaging earthquakes and meteotsunami in foreign settlements in the early Meiji period (1873-1884): Collection of seismic information from foreign-language newspapers in Japan

*Kentaro Hattori¹ (1.Kyoto Univ.)

Keywords:historical earthquakes, the early Meiji period , foreign-language newspaper

Modern seismic nationwide observation in Japan began in 1885. Earthquakes prior to that time are generally referred to as historical earthquakes. In order to study historical earthquakes, it is important to collect records written by people of the time. In Japan, records of historical earthquakes on or before 1872 have been systematically collected, represented by "New collections of historical materials on earthquakes in Japan". Compared to the period, the historical sources of earthquakes from 1873 to 1884 have not systematically been collected.

In this study, we focus on foreign-language newspapers in Japan at that time such as "Japan Weekly mail" which started in Yokohama, Japan in 1870. These newspapers contain a lot of information about earthquakes felt in Japan, especially in Yokohama, Nagasaki, and Hakodate, where many foreigners resided.

Focusing on the period from 1873 to 1884, we searched the newspapers for earthquakes that caused damages to Yokohama, Nagasaki, and Hakodate. We introduce the three damaging earthquakes that are not seen in the earthquake catalogs. One on 3 December 1879, another on 22 May 1881, and the other on 5 November 1878 caused damages to Yokohama, Nagasaki, and Hakodate, respectively.

In addition, we also introduce an abnormal tidal phenomenon on 21 August 1877 in Nagasaki. The phenomenon may be a meteotsunami.