the City 'has reacted calmly to the earthquake on Sunday, 5. 7 Richter degree, but old beliefs announce "the death in September" when scocchera 'the 69th anniversary of the Kanto earthquake of 1923 - The City 'has reacted calmly to an earthquake of medium intensity', but old beliefs announce "the death in September" TITLE: The pesce.gatto and 'back: The Great Shock hanging over Tokyo - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - OUR SENT FROM TOKIO. Non e 'stat "Big .One" that everyone expects and that no one dares to mention, but not one of the

usual earthquakes on average to 50' years, which mark the 'existence of the people here. A jolt like the one at 4:04 on Sunday, February 2 Jun pulled 'out of bed million people in Tokyo and its surroundings do not remember the' October of '85: 5 Japanese scale (the maximum' on the seventh), magnitude 5 , 7 on the Richter scale, not far from that (7.1) of the disastrous San Francisco earthquake of 'October' 89. The Japanese capital, protected by his armor ant seismic steel and cement and an efficient network of security devices, has received the shot brilliantly. A woman and 'fall from a ladder and 31 other people have finished all' hospital somewhere dented household. The firefighters had to extinguish a few fires. The "Slinkiness" super trains linking Tokyo to the rest of Japan, have delayed the departure of two hours. That's it. He has done more 'damage the snow fall abundantly Friday' and Saturday, man dandy in tilt the traffic and causing more than 370 injured in accidents d 'scivoloni car or trivial. Just on the eve of "Set suborn", February 3, the day in Japanese tradition that marks the end of 'winter, when every family will throw the beans against , the demons of bad weather. Between snow and earthquakes, this year 's demons have really wanted to overdo: Even if newspapers and TV minimize the City' has the nerves to the skin. Kiyo Mogi, chairman of the Coordinating Committee for the prediction of earthquakes, said that people should be more 'aware of the possibility' that a larger earthquake could strike Tokyo. And many people wonder what would have happened if, instead of surprising people in their sleep in the week. end, the shock had come to 'rush hour of a day. The Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 (8.2 Richter scale, killed 140 thousand), had chosen to noon on a Saturday, now referred to 'time out workers from factories and offices, while their wives were preparing lunch on braziers charcoal in wooden houses. In a few moments the metropolis was a huge bonfire '. History teaches that an earthquake of that entities' occurs on average once every 69 years: the first of September just the shell sessantanovesimo anniversary of the Great Earthquake. In hotels the speakers invited for calm: "This building and 'earthquake proof." 70 percent of the houses and 'fitted with devices that automatically suspend the' gas in case of shock and right from the classroom the children learn how to behave. Everything under control, then. But there 's not who you trust. Peter Hadfield, English journalist and lived here for five years, tried to scrape the crust below the 'official optimism. It has produced a book ( "Sixty seconds that will change the world", published in London a few months ago) by catastrophic colors. According to Hadfield, the anti-seismic measures are often ignored and continue to build in areas at risk. Along the Bay of Tokyo are aligned deposits of oil companies' chemical industry that in the event of an earthquake would be swallowed up by the "tsunami" of 'Ocean. And the costs of reconstruction trigger a global financial disaster. L 'nightmare of the Great Shock burden on capital hyper, relive old beliefs. Months ago and 'emerge from the waters of the Gulf a pesce.gatto dead. an omen, according to legend, most of the earthquakes' disastrous. The seismologists smile, skeptical. Meanwhile, the Tokyo City Hall has decided to fund research on "pesce.gatto". You never know. Riccardo Chiaberge