Jishin rettô (1980)

On May 14, 1981, geophysicist Yoichi Kawazu realizes that a massive earthquake on the scale of the Great Kanto Earthquake is likely to strike modern-day Tokyo again. He immediately and desperately urges academic societies, the prime minister, and other government officials to take disaster-prevention measures on a national scale, but they dismiss him with laughter. Around this time, observation instruments (tiltmeters) installed around the country detect tremors, and one malfunction after another comes to light, revealing that an earthquake could strike at any moment. In his private life, Kawazu’s marriage to his wife, Yuko, has grown distant, and he is considering remarrying Tomiko Ashida, a subordinate with whom he has long been close. Masayuki Hashizume, a reporter who learns of Kawazu’s earthquake prediction, begins investigating it, but he too secretly has feelings for his friend Tomiko. In this situation, they decide to convene an earthquake-prediction conference the next day—but it is already too late. A massive earthquake measuring magnitude 7.9, with its epicenter at the Sagami Trough, strikes Tokyo. At Haneda Airport, an aircraft that has just landed runs onto a runway buckled by a fissure in the ground and explodes. Buildings collapse in the city center, while petrochemical complexes and cars on expressways explode, turning the ground above into a sea of fire. Meanwhile, the subway and underground shopping areas are inundated as the ground around the Sumida River and elsewhere sinks, allowing water from Tokyo Bay to pour in. In this desperate situation, the passengers trapped in a subway train, including the Kawazus, try to escape, as do Hashizume and Tomiko, who are trapped in a collapsed apartment building. Hundreds of passengers who have left the subway train flee in panic through the dim station. Protecting Yuko, Kawazu searches for an exit with the other passengers, and his wife begins to follow him willingly and help in their efforts to survive. Soon afterward, a powerful aftershock causes a wall inside the station to collapse, and the great volume of water that rushes in through the breach claims many lives. The passengers, now reduced to a few dozen, cling to the roof and sides of the train, but as time passes, those who lose their strength fall one by one into the current and drown. Around the same time, Tomiko, left exposed when the apartment building’s outer wall collapses, watches in terror as residents fall from the floors above. Trapped in the building’s elevator car, Hashizume manages to escape through the ceiling and desperately climbs toward the upper floors along a wire rope. Making his way through flames and smoke, he rescues Tomiko from an apartment whose front door has been damaged, but she becomes dazed from inhaling smoke. Encouraging Tomiko when she loses heart, Hashizume leads her downstairs, but flames block their way, so they quickly head for the roof instead. Meanwhile, rescue teams from the Metropolitan Police Department, the Tokyo Fire Department, and the Self-Defense Forces are unable to move freely enough to carry out rescue and firefighting operations in the devastated city center, and they are not equipped to cope with the situation. Black smoke and blasts of hot air from explosive fires also obstruct rescue efforts, and a rescue helicopter crashes, causing further casualties. The government gradually runs out of options, and the prime minister and chief cabinet secretary regret not having listened to Kawazu’s warning. At the apartment building, as Hashizume takes Tomiko toward the roof, thunder rumbles overhead. Nearby are a water tank and a severed cable. Inspired by this, Hashizume climbs onto the tank and wraps the cable around it. A lightning strike triggers an explosion and sprays water, putting out the fires nearby. Hashizume embraces Tomiko, who comes to her senses moments later, and the two share their joy at having survived. Meanwhile, Kawazu steels himself and swims underwater downstream to assess the situation. A collapsed wall is blocking the exit, but some kind of gas is accumulating there. When he returns to Yuko and the others, Kawazu tells them that the only way to escape is to blow up the wall with the gas, and volunteers to ignite it. Having realized anew that she loves Kawazu, Yuko tries to stop him, but her husband entrusts her with the precious earthquake data and heads downstream, saying, “You have to survive.” Kawazu’s gas explosion allows the passengers to escape outside with the current. Thinking of her husband, who saved her at the cost of his own life, Yuko walks forward.