In 1991 journalist and former geologist Peter Hadfield predicted that a major earthquake would hit one of Japan's most industrial areas in the 1990s, the prelude to an era of intense seismic upheaval below Tokyo itself, the world's premier financial capital. The damage to Japan's economy could have a devastating global effect, leading to stock market crashes in London and New York and a world-wide recession. In 1995 the first half of his prediction came true when the Kobe earthquake brough catastrophic loss of life and huge destruction. First published in 1991, this book has been updated to include the Kobe earthquake and the lessons to be learnt.