It was a fateful day for Tokyo and the nation.
At 11:58 a.m on Sept. 1, 1923, a killer tremor measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale struck the Tokyo area.
Ensuing fires rapidly spread and developed into firestorms that engulfed much of the city. The damage from the quake and fires was devastating: more than 100,000 were killed, 250,000 buildings were destroyed and 447,000 structures burned down.