I was born with a special gift, the ability to mentally transform any situation into the worst case scenario, in my own brain, my therapist calls my gift catastrophizing.

And that's why I'm uniquely qualified to scrutinize and analyze history's greatest disasters, and find out who's to play, play, play.

They say history repeats itself, not on my watch.

My name is Rebecca Delgado-Smith, and I am the alarmist.

Hey everyone, thanks for tuning into the alarmist, a comedy podcast where we talk about history's greatest tragedies and figure out who's to blame.

Today we're discussing the great Conto earthquake.

Here's what you need to know.

When Emperor Meiji passed away in 1912, Japan entered its jazz age.

Known as the Taiso era, this period in Japanese history invited a mass democratic movement, a boom in industrialization and a westernized culture.

The heartland of Japan, Conto is a region on the main island, Honshu, and encompasses the greater Tokyo area.

In 1923, Conto's population had rapidly expanded as factory jobs abounded, and Tokyo housed dozens of densely crowded industrial districts.

On Saturday, September 1st, 1923, families were gathering around the table for lunch.

When a segment of the Philippine Oceanic Plate glided against the Eurasian Continental Plate, releasing a catastrophic burst of energy.

A magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck Conto for mere minutes, and it would obliterate the entire region by the late afternoon.

Down at the docks of Yokohama, family and friends waived goodbye to their loved ones as a steamship prepared to disembark for Vancouver.

A low rumbling gave way to a deafening jolt as the pier collapsed, throwing hundreds of people into the water.

A 30-foot tsunami consumed the coast as residents fled toward safety.

Then the fires came. At two minutes before noon, thousands of families were sitting down for their midday meal.

As the earth beneath them violently convulsed, hundreds of comedos or cooking stoves overturned, coupled with the dozens of ruptured gas lines and high winds.

Firestorms erupted across Tokyo and burned everything in their path. Within minutes, hundreds of fires consumed the city, turning the bustling metropolis into a wasteland of rubble and ash.

Thousands of panicked residents congested Tokyo's web of roads, alleys and bridges as they attempted to flee the thickening smoke.

Over 38,000 individuals took refuge at the site of the former Hanjo clothing department.

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