Kobe Earthquake

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Kobe Earthquake
By Scott Davis
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Location
The city of Kobe is on the islands and country of
Japan. Japan is situated in the northern
hemisphere, it is in the Pacific Ocean and is off
the coast of China and Korea in the western coast
of Asia. Japan has a population of 126million, an
area of roughly the size of California and is the
worlds 5th most populous country in the world.
Japan consists of 4 main islands Honshu,
Kyushu, Hokkaido and Skikoku, Honshu being the
biggest. Kobe is a coastal port city with a
population of about 1.5 million and an area of
552.8km squared. The Oceanic Plates the Pacific
and Philippine are forced under the Eurasian
Plate called the Nojima Fault which is a
subduction zone. These plates move at 6.8
centimetres per year On the 17th January 1995 at
546am a 7.2 on the Richter Scale earthquake
struck with an epicentre on the island called
Awaji Island in Osaka Bay.
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Physical Causes
The earthquake of Kobe at 546am on the 17th
January 1995 was caused by the simple matter of
the Philippine Plate being forced under the
thicker and lighter continental plate the
Eurasian. This quake, 7.2 on the Richter Scale,
was the worst in half and century. The earthquake
was caused by a sudden jolt as the Philippine
Plate was forced underneath the Eurasian into the
Mantle. This Earthquake was 1 of 20 quakes during
the century of the same strength. The focus was
underneath Awaji Island on the edge of the two
plates, the epicentre was 20 miles from the port
of Kobe. Primary waves hit first these lift and
fall the ground, next come secondary waves which
are left and right, then come tertiary waves
which are round and round these are the main
causes of waves. Part of Kobe was made of
reclaimed land which
further increased damage on Kobe, it is this that
made the primary waves much more effective. The
shockwaves were also felt in other Japanese
cities further inland such as Osaka Kyoto. The
earthquake happened just before dawn which meant
people were in bed and oblivious of stuck in
traffic jams in rush hour, this increased
casualties.
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Short Term Effects
The 7.2 earthquake of Kobe The Great Hanshin
Earthquake caused 10 billion yen worth of damage
which is just under 6 billion pound sterling. The
short term effects are as listed here
5,471 people dead because of fire from broken gas
lines as well as collapsing buildings and another
35,000 injuries some of which fatal. The
shaking of the ground caused 172,000 houses to
collapse ,7500 of which due to fire, leaving
316,000 people homeless. 35 schools were
destroyed leaving students without education, 3
Hospitals were destroyed possibly leaving
patients with outstanding illnesses without
medical treatment, combined with injuries from
the earthquakes would overload the few remaining
hospitals. This also caused the derailing of 12
trains and the destruction of 130km of roadways,
etc. The Great Hanshin Expressway (which was
shown in red on the previous slide) partially
collapsed, 1mile of it fell down onto the lower
levels crushing cars and people alike. The bullet
train was also damaged.
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Long Term Effects
further decreased trade and travel to and from
the area. All these things must be rebuilt which
would have taken a lot of time and money to
oversee construction. Once the Japanese
considered aid, food and water were flown in
along with the armed forces to help with search
and rescue help in other ways.
5,471 died initially which would affect later
happenings because this would make a lot of
children orphaned. Furthermore this would
increase the number of orphanages needed for the
children. This too creates a problem because the
loss of people means there are fewer people to
work in construction, orphanages, emergency
services and the jobs they had before. This would
create strain on the construction industry to
construct buildings due to lack of labour. 35
schools were destroyed which means limited
education for children, also these schools were
being used for refuge for homeless people along
with other public buildings. They also had lack
of food, blankets and other essential
requirements for people and combined with the
refusal of aid from other countries meant that
Japans people went without. The income of Kobe
and tourism fell dramatically as Kobes
population fell by 33,000 between the months of
January and June. 196 ships were destroyed which
meant that trade fell, people lost their lives
jobs and tourism and income fell as it devastated
on of Japans busiest ports. With loss of jobs
and trade the damage cost exceeded 10bn yen! The
rubble trapped people for days and because few
roads were unblocked most died, this put a strain
on the emergency services because of the rush to
save lives. A 1 mile section of the Hanshin
Expressway collapsed which crushed the section of
road below. This would render the road unusable
which
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Prediction
Earthquakes cannot be predicted accurately at
all, non accurate measurements are the only
things that can be achieved. However by studying
records of previous earthquakes it is possible to
identify signs of a coming earthquake such as
animal reactions. By exploiting these scientists
can use fauna (animals) to monitor when
earthquakes are likely to happen but with limited
accuracy. Other signs include small tremors, gas
emissions and electrical conductivity. Scientists
in California has suggested a method of using
past seismic activity to produce an inaccurate
time of when an earthquake is likely to occur.
This is essentially a timeline of when the next
earthquakes are likely to occur on a specific
plate boundary.
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Prevention
Even with todays modern technology its
impossible to prevent earthquakes and the forces
of nature but there are ways that damage can be
reduced or minimized. Ground-breaking studies are
underway to see if injecting a fluid into the
plate boundary to try to stop the sudden jolts
that cause an earthquake. However as of now there
is little evidence to support this theory. Now in
Kobe the rest of Japan drills are being run so
that both the public and emergency services know
what to do if an earthquake strikes. Drills
include operations like clearing rubble and
quenching fires. Furthermore signs and leaflets
are reminding people of the danger of an
earthquake. People are being provided with
First-Aid kits, tools and torches so that they
can be used if a need arises. Strengthened
pipelines are being used to lower the risk of
possible ruptures. Houses are being reinforced
with steel to reduce the risk of collapsing. New
buildings are being constructed so called
earthquake-proof which is basically using a
pendulum system, reinforced building materials
and deep, strong building foundations. Buildings
are being reinforced by steel and concrete and
deeper foundations are dug for extra stability.
The pendulum consists of a number of weights hung
on to the central structure like a giant
grandfather clock. Mechanisms swing the weights
the opposite way during shaking of a building
which should keep it stationary. Lastly
cross-beams are being introduced which helps keep
the building together.
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Quick Quiz!
Question 1
At what time did the earthquake happen?
543am 546am 556am
Name the plate not involved in Japans Plate
Tectonics?
Question 2
Philippine Eurasian Pacific N.American
How fast do these plates move per year (cm)?
Question 3
3.5 6.8 7.3
Question 4
Which of these cities was not affected by the
effects of the earthquake?
Kyoto Kobe Osaka Tokyo
Question 5
How much moneys worth of damage did it cause?
10bn Yen 7bn Yen 12bn Yen
Question 6
What was the date of the earthquake?
17th Feb 17th Jan 11th Jan
What was the strength of the earthquake on the
Richter Scale?
Question 7
6.7 8.1 7.2