Kobe Earthquake

Introduction

On 17^th January, 1995, an earthquake struck the Japanese city of Kobe. The earthquake measured a 9.6 on the Richter Scale at 05:46am. There were several tremors hours before the earthquake, unuasually close together for that area. Japan sits on 3 tectonic fault lines and the Kobe earthquake was caused by the fault line between The Eurasian Plate and The Philippine Plate.

Cause

The earthquake was caused by the interaction of The Eurasion Plate, The Philippine Plate and The Pacific Plate. It took place along the destructive boundery between The Philippine Plate and The Eurasion Plate. The heavy Philippine Plate was being pushed under The Eurasion Plate. The rock grinded together causing The Kobe Earthquake.

Social Impacts

The Kobe Earthquake killed over 6,430 people and injured a further 35,000.
104,906 houses were destroyed and 460,000 were damaged.
230,000 people were left homeless.
200,000 buildings collapsed.
Bridges and roads were destroyed. Trains were derailed. Many people were burnt to death as many of the houses were made of wood.

Economic Impacts

Kobe had one of the largest container ports in the world, however 80% of the quays were damaged due to the ground becoming too saturated with water and becoming unstable, preventing important goods from being imported and exported.
The damage of the earthquake cost the economy $220 billion.
Companies like Panasonic and Mitsubishi had to temporarily close, losing out on income.

Environmental Impacts

Lots of waste from the earthquake was burned in fields and the gases caused allergies and asthma atttacks. This also caused a lot of air pollution. Also, house fires destroyed around 7,500 houses and the land around them. Some fires went on for several days, one fire was over 400 metres long at one point!

Response

Short Term

Search & Rescue teams were send out to search for survivors.
The Japanese government evacuated thousands of people into temporary shelters due to the risk of fires and unstable buildings.
Survivors were given rations and emergency medication.
Roads were closed and bulldozers were brought in to clear rubble and debris.
The Fire Departments battled to put out the fires.
About 1.2 million people volenteered to help in the first 3 months after the disaster.
Retail firms and mobile networks gave away basic supplies and free telephone service to people.
NGOs distributed relief supplies to Kobe.

Long Term

City infrastructure such as water, electricity, gas and mobile service wasn't fully operational until July 1995.
Rail services saw disruption until August 1995.
Replacement buildings were required to meet stronger earthquake resistance standards. High-rise buildings had to have flexible steel frames with reinforcing bars to absorb shockwaves. Houses were built with non-flammable materials. New Buildings were required to be built to solid rock rather than clay.
The Government gave money to home owners and public facilities for repairs.
Rubber blocks were placed below bridges to absorb shockwaves.
Japan remade their disaster prevention plan due to the critisism of the old one.

Sources

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