Geography Kobe Earthquake Japan, January 17th 1995

Created by: megshep
Created on: 02-12-16 17:36


	Geography Kobe Earthquake Japan, January 17th 1995
	Causes The denser oceanic Philippine plate is subducting under the lighter continental Eurasian plate. The earthquake has a magnitude of 7.2 on the Richter scale this meant the quake could be felt on the other side of the planet. The ground shook for 20 seconds The epicentre was close to a densely populated area It was only 16km under ground which mean the depth was very shallow. Seismic shock waves travelled from Awaji Island to Kobe, scientists did not know of this fault line which is why they were not fully prepared. The quake travelled at 9000kmph ground moved up by 50cm vertically and a metre horizontally human causes They had not seen an earthquake for 400 years so had no idea how to prepare for one. It was early in the morning which meant most people were asleep in their traditional houses.	Effects 5502 people were killed 100,000 buildings were destryed $150 billion in damage primary effects The port was destroyed due to the fact it was built on reclaimed land which is very saturated which caused liquification. The 2 ton roofs which were built to protect people from typhoons had very week wooden structures holding them together causing pancake collapses crushing people inside. The road was destroyed because it was not built efficiently even though it was meant to withstand a quake of 8.2. Secondary effects burst gas pipes caused fires which burnt the traditional wooden houses. Because the water mains were broken firefighters could not put out the fire 4900 die in the wooden houses with most of them being in the suburbs. 300,000 made homeless
	Overall summary It took 2 days for sufficient aid to get there as the communications were all down, and it took two years for the port to be back in action which meant $40 billion was lost. at the time of the disaster it was the most costly one known to man. new laws have been passed to make the buildings safer and on the 1st of September they have a day for training for earthquakes. By January 1999 134,000 earthquake proof homes had been built and more instruments were installed in the area to predict future disasters.

Geography Kobe Earthquake Japan, January 17th 1995

Causes

The denser oceanic Philippine plate is subducting under the lighter continental Eurasian plate.
The earthquake has a magnitude of 7.2 on the Richter scale this meant the quake could be felt on the other side of the planet.
The ground shook for 20 seconds
The epicentre was close to a densely populated area
It was only 16km under ground which mean the depth was very shallow.
Seismic shock waves travelled from Awaji Island to Kobe, scientists did not know of this fault line which is why they were not fully prepared.
The quake travelled at 9000kmph
ground moved up by 50cm vertically and a metre horizontally
human causes
They had not seen an earthquake for 400 years so had no idea how to prepare for one.
It was early in the morning which meant most people were asleep in their traditional houses.

Effects

5502 people were killed
100,000 buildings were destryed
$150 billion in damage
primary effects
The port was destroyed due to the fact it was built on reclaimed land which is very saturated which caused liquification.
The 2 ton roofs which were built to protect people from typhoons had very week wooden structures holding them together causing pancake collapses crushing people inside.
The road was destroyed because it was not built efficiently even though it was meant to withstand a quake of 8.2.
Secondary effects
burst gas pipes caused fires which burnt the traditional wooden houses.
Because the water mains were broken firefighters could not put out the fire
4900 die in the wooden houses with most of them being in the suburbs.
300,000 made homeless

Overall summary

It took 2 days for sufficient aid to get there as the communications were all down, and it took two years for the port to be back in action which meant $40 billion was lost. at the time of the disaster it was the most costly one known to man. new laws have been passed to make the buildings safer and on the 1st of September they have a day for training for earthquakes. By January 1999 134,000 earthquake proof homes had been built and more instruments were installed in the area to predict future disasters.

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Geography Kobe Earthquake Japan, January 17th 1995