Kobe, Japan 1995 Earthquake Case Study

Location: the epicentre was located 20km southwest of Kobe on the Eurasian-Philippine destructive plate boundary (pacific plate also contributes to pressure build up) Specifically it occured on the Nojima faultline

Magnitude: 7.2  Endurance - 20seconds Focus depth - shallow at 16km

South of the fault moved 1.5m to the right and 1.2m down

Mercalli Scale 8  Aftershocks - 50 in 5 weeks

• Killed 6345 - it occured at 5:45am so most of the dead had been alseep and were trapped and killed by rubble
• 300,000 made homeless
• US$100billion or 10 trillion yen
• Huge investments in earthquake proof buildings meant far fewer collapsed
• liquefaction 

Secondary effects were more severe

• ruptured gas mains and exposed electricity wires caused fires to break out and destroyed 7,500 homes
• severe winter weather posed health risk to survivors
• loss of trade cost millions
• 130km of damage to bullet train line
• 5% of Japan's business located in the city - millions lost in trade and property damage

Japan rejected most international aid to save face - it prides itself on preparedness

people are drilled in earthquake preparedness at work and school

emergency services train to deal with such events

Within months, water, electricity and gas services had been repaired and wthin the year, the trainline had been fixed.

quick recovery of local economy  - insurance covered the personal cost of the earthquake