On 12 June, 1978 an earthquake of magnitude 7.5 occurred about 100 km off the east coast of Honshu, the main island of Japan. The earthquake caused widespread damage in Sendai, a city of some 600,000 inhabitants, which is located about 350 km north of Tokyo and 250 km south of Hachinohe (where extensive damage occurred in the 1968 Tokachi-oki earthquake. According to press reports, only 20 people lost their lives
in Sendai. These photographs and sketches of building damage in Sendai are by
 Doukou Hayashi of Yokoyama Consulting Engineers, Tokyo, and are reproduced here courtesy of Mr. W. P. Edwards of Wellington.