Stock Photo - Jun. 06, 1964 - The city of Niigeat is a blazing shambles after the severe earthquake which took place at 1.02 pm 6/16/64. isolating it from the rest of Japan as railway lines buckled, and the runway of the airport partly disappeared, there is no water, electricity of sewerage remaining and thousands are homeless. The port of Niigata, one of principal oil refining cities, suffered a double catastrophy as oil tanks burst spreading blazing oil over hundreds of houses nearby, destroying 291 of them. The 90 oil tanks which went up in flames contained 400,000 kilolitres. So far 25 persons are known to have perished, and several hundred injured. Nearly 2,000 houses were destroyed, 30 being washed away in a tidal wave which followed the earthquake, and more than 14,000 homes are flooeded. The earthquake made roads heave like waves of the sea, breaking up the surface in chunks. Blocks of flats topple on their sides, and tenents sal-age what they can through the windows now horizontal. (Credit Image: © Keystone Press Agency/Keystone USA via ZUMAPRESS.com)