Æ
In the period following the Second
World War, tensions simmered
in the Middle East, China, Korea,
India and Germany. Richard Overy
explores key events in a year in
which healthcare, abstract art and
emigration also made headlines
1948
Earthquakes and
emigration, art
and apartheid
A YEAR
IN PICTURES
Escape the quake
Japanese people clutch whatever
possessions they can carry as they
flee from the devastation caused by a
major earthquake in Fukui prefecture
on 28 June 1948. The 6.8 magnitude
quake brought down 60% of the
buildings in the Fukui plain, many
of them too hastily constructed after
bombing during the Second World
War; 3,769 people died and more than
22,000 were injured. Thousands of
farmers were spared because the quake
struck in the late afternoon, when
most were in the fields.