Ring of Fire subduction of the Pacific Plate and the Philippine Sea Plate. As many as 1,500 earthquakes are recorded yearly, and magnitudes of 4 to 6 are not uncommon. Minor tremors occur almost daily in one part of the country or another, causing some slight shaking of buildings. Major earthquakes occur infrequently; the most famous in the 20th century were: the Great Kantō earthquake of 1923, in which 130,000 people died; and the Great Hanshin earthquake of 17 January 1995, in which 6,434 people died. On March 11, 2011 a magnitude 9.0 earthquake hit Japan, the country's biggest ever and the fifth
Canadian Academy purchased land on Nagamine Heights, the Duke of Gloucester dedicated a boy's dormitory, Gloucester House, named in his honor in May 1929. The Latin Motto of "Scientia Clavis Successus," knowledge is the key to success, was chosen in 1921 as was the school song. The school housed refugees from the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. CA remained at the Aotani-cho campus until it closed due to World War Two. The last formal graduation ceremony took place in 1942. The Japanese government seized the school to serve as internment camps for enemy aliens. Only Gloucester House and the principal's house survived