Smithsonian Channel - Perfect Storms (2014) Part 3 Fire Twister Tokyo

Perfect Storms

On rare occasions natural and human forces collide in a spectacular way to provoke disaster and change the world forever. These are history's Perfect Storms. In this series we travel the world to investigate the biggest and most consequential disasters of all time. These events are the black swans of history: extremely rare and massively impactful. To understand why they occurred and what it was like to experience them first hand, you have to pick them apart piece by piece. Today, cable news networks provide exhaustive 360-degree coverage of natural and human disasters. They utilize on-the-ground investigation and scientific analysis; present dramatic storytelling about survivors and victims, heroes and villains; and employ powerful tools like 3D animation, field-testing, and satellite imagery. Perfect Storms will use these same high tech tools, dramatic storytelling and investigative techniques to explore the biggest disasters of the past, some of which have not been covered on television before. We'll also meet the people who were there, using archives and first hand testimony when possible, and visual effects and dramatic reconstruction to bring to life characters from further back in history. The goal: a new approach and new stories in the ever-popular historic disaster and extreme weather genre.

Part 3: Fire Twister: Tokyo

September 1, 1923. A 7.9 magnitude earthquake strikes off the coast of Japan. The shockwaves devastate Tokyo, Yokohama and surrounding areas. In the rubble, thousands of fires break out and are quickly whipped into a firestorm, aided by strong winds from a typhoon lurking offshore. In a downtown open space where earthquake survivors had taken refuge, the firestorm triggers an extremely rare “dragon twister” - a tornado filled with burning debris - which kills an astounding 38,000 in just 15 minutes. Known as the Great Kanto Earthquake, this disaster remains the deadliest in Japanese history, killing between 120,000 to 140,000 people. In the political and social chaos that follows, Japan is set on a new militaristic path towards the Second World War.

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