Kobe Earthquake

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Kobe Earthquake
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Where is Japan?
Japan is lies to the East of China and Korea in
the Pacific Ocean. Japan lies on the so called
Pacific Ring of Fire, an active area
of tectonic activity that causes many of the
worlds earthquakes and volcanoes. Each year
Japan has around 2000 earthquakes, most of these
are not powerful enough to cause any damage.
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North American Plate
Japan lies in the middle of four tectonic
plates. The pressure of the plates has produced
fault lines in Japans crust. The fault running
through the Kobe area had not moved for 50 years
and a huge amount of pressure had built up.
Eurasian Plate
Pacific Plate
Philippine Plate
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At 5.46am on the 17th of January 1995, Kobe was
struck by one of the strongest earthquakes to hit
Japan in living memory.
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14,690 injured
4,569 deaths
82 schools damaged
130km of Japans main rail system was closed
The Earthquake only lasted 20 seconds but the
caused terrible human suffering and damage
estimated at 80 billion.
190,000 buildings destroyed or damaged
12 industry destroyed
300,000 people lost their homes
90 of the port destroyed
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The primary effect of the earthquake was damage
to buildings. Many older buildings collapsed
completely. Wooden buildings in the poorer areas
of Kobe were flattened as the walls could not
support the heavy tile roofs. A number of tall
buildings pancaked walls gave way and each
floor piled up on top of the one below.
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Primary damage caused by the earthquake
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Pancaked buildings
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Older wooden buildings in the poorer areas.
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The most devastating secondary effect was fire.
Paraffin heaters and gas cookers set fire to
buildings. The fires were also made worse by gas
escaping from broken gas pipes and the fire
services could not get to the fires due to
blocked roads and burst water mains.
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Secondary effects fire engulfs Kobe
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