The active San Andreas fault runs through California and causes regular earthquakes, while the warm waters transported by the Gulf Stream can intensify a storm heading for South Carolina. Teach your students about plate tectonics using these classroom resources. These environmental hazards shape human activity regionally. This is the deadliest tsunami since the 2004 magnitude 9.1 Sumatra earthquake and tsunami caused nearly 230,000 deaths and $10 billion in damage. Everything We Know About What Caused Kobe Bryant’s Helicopter to Crash News On 6 From dreams to tragedy. © 1996 - 2020 National Geographic Society. Building codes in California require builders to meet standards set to minimize structural damage in an earthquake and coastal cities have building code to reinforce roofs and walls to resist a storm’s high winds. Taking into consideration the entire Kobe and Aum Tokyo scenarios together with the earlier, possibly Aum-related, fireball-explosion-earthquake events of 28 May 1993 at Banjawarn, Western Australia, one is left with a very strong impression of a serious "EM fire" underlying the visible "dark plume of smoke" that rose over Kobe. Earth’s tectonic plates fit together in a jigsaw puzzle of plate boundaries. Such was its intensity that even the sensors on the other side of the world picked it. This is because the physical conditions in each place are different. Burning and collapsed buildings in Kōbe, Japan, after the January 1995 earthquake. Earthquakes in Kobe Japan are a result of Japan’s geographic position near fault lines and moving tectonic plates in the Pacific ocean. It lasted about 20 seconds and registered as a magnitude 6.9 (7.3 on the Richter scale). We humans live on a very thin layer of mostly rock which all floats on a sea of liquid called magma. According to official statistics, 5,472 people were killed, and over 400,000 were injured. Most of the largest earthquakes in Japan are caused by subduction of the Philippine Sea Plate or Pacific Plate, with mechanisms that involve either energy released within the subducting plate or the accumulation and sudden release of stress in the overlying plate. The focus of the earthquake was 16km beneath the epicentre, 20km from the city of Kobe.Japan, ironically, was named the “most earthquake … You cannot download interactives. Although most of the buildings that had been constructed according to new building codes withstood the earthquake, many others, particularly older wood-frame houses, did not. For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service. These tectonic plates rest upon the convecting mantle, which causes them to move. The Great Hanshin earthquake, or the Kobe earthquake as it is more commonly known overseas, was an earthquake in Japan that measured 7.2 on the Japanese Scale. If you have questions about licensing content on this page, please contact ngimagecollection@natgeo.com for more information and to obtain a license. It also permanently changed the shapes of the fields. The magnitude 7.2 earthquake in Kobe, Japan has resulted in extensive damage and a shocking number of fatalities and injuries. Updates? She or he will best know the preferred format. Also called lithospheric plate. The Kobe earthquake, also referred to as the Great Hanshin earthquake, was a 7.3-magnitude earthquake that rocked the Hyōgo Prefecture of Japan on the dawn of January 17, 1995. Terms of Service |  This comparison, along with other structural and geotechnical information that is available, would seem to suggest that the greater damage and the larger numbers of deaths, casualties, and homeless sustained during the Kobe Earthquake were likely caused by the aggregated effects of an extremely dense population, an older building stock, and the predominance of poor soils in the strongly shaken area. The earthquake had a shallow focus, only 16 km below the surface, which had caused it to become so destructive. 1 a) When did the Kobe earthquake occur? The January 17, 1995 Hyogoken-Nanbu earthquake of magnitude 7.2 in JMA scale (Mw = 6.9), which struck Kobe, Japan and its surrounding area was the most severe earthquake to affect that region this century. Kobe, Japan, 1995 (MEDC) On 17th January 1995, an earthquake struck Kobe, a heavily populated urban area in Japan. Continental plate involved in the earthquake. Sustainability Policy |  Learn more about environmental hazards with this curated resource collection. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. Japan has not experienced such a damaging earthquake since 1923, when an estimated magnitude-8.3 earthquake killed about 143,000 people in the Tokyo area. It occurred on January 17, 1995 at 5:46 am 52 seconds in the southern part of Hyogo Prefecture and lasted for approximately 20 seconds. When you reach out to him or her, you will need the page title, URL, and the date you accessed the resource. The Hyogo-ken Nanbu earthquake was not only powerful ( magnitude 6.9 ), but with the epicentre only 20km southwest of the city, it resulted in massive damage to property and loss of life. On the other hand, the Kobe region was thought to be fairly safe in terms of seismic activity. The earthquake caused 5100 deaths, mainly in Kobe. For example, if you live in northern California you are more likely to be impacted by a wildfire, landslide, or earthquake than if you live in Charleston, South Carolina, but less likely to be hit by a hurricane. Kōbe earthquake of 1995, (Jan. 17, 1995) large-scale earthquake in the Ōsaka-Kōbe (Hanshin) metropolitan area of western Japan that was among the strongest, deadliest, and costliest to ever strike that country. The earthquake was notable for exposing the vulnerability of the infrastructure. Navigate parenthood with the help of the Raising Curious Learners podcast. Photograph by Karen Kasmauski, National Geographic. Date of the Earthquake. In the aftermath of the Kōbe disaster, roads, bridges, and buildings were reinforced against another earthquake, and the national government revised its disaster response policies (its response to the 2004 quake in Niigata prefecture was much faster and more effective). The earthquake in Kobe on January, 17, 1995 left 6,425 dead, injured 25,000, displaced 300,000 people, damaged or destroyed 100,000 buildings and caused at least $132 billion worth of damage, or about 2.5 percent of Japan’s national income, making it one of the most expensive natural disasters in history. The government was heavily criticized for its slow and ineffectual response, as well as its initial refusal to accept help from foreign countries. When this happened, the underlying wood materials were exposed, creating a large combustible fuel load. However, this was the eighth earthquake in Japan in this century that caused more than 1,000 The Kobe Earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.2 on the Richter scale, that struck at 5:46 in the morning of January 17, 1995, caused considerable and various types of damage in the Hanshin area around the cities of Kobe and Osaka in Japan. Eurasian. Kobe was largely affected, as the epicentre was only 30 km from the city centre. The Ring of Fire is a string of volcanoes and sites of seismic activity, or earthquakes, around the edges of the Pacific Ocean. The earthquake hit at 5:46 am on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 1995, in the southern part of Hyōgo Port and waterfront facilities in Kobe, Japan, suffered extensive damage due to liquefaction during the 1995 Kobe earthquake. It is written by Toshi Matsui, a Japanese university student. Kōbe earthquake of 1995, also called Great Hanshin earthquake, Japanese in full Hanshin-Awaji Daishinsai (“Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake Disaster”), (Jan. 17, 1995) large-scale earthquake in the Ōsaka-Kōbe (Hanshin) metropolitan area of western Japan that was among the strongest, deadliest, and costliest to ever strike that country. The earthquake was caused by a sudden jolt as the Philippine The Great Hanshin Earthquake measured 7.2 on the Richter scale and lasted over 20 seconds. Kobe Earthquake Causes Of course, the Kobe Earthquake cause is natural and out of human hands. The quake cost more than $100 billion in damage, and the Kobe. Why was the death toll of the Kobe quake so high? The tremors were the result of a violent uplift of the sea floor 80 miles off the coast of Sendai, where the Pacific tectonic plate slides beneath the plate Japan sits on. Portions of the Hanshin Expressway linking Kōbe and Ōsaka also collapsed or were heavily damaged during the earthquake. Pacific and Philippines. having to do with the physical formations of the Earth. Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. More importantly, the fact that Kobe earthquake has been listed as ‘the costliest natural disaster to befall any single country’ speaks volumes about the damage this earthquake caused to the Japanese economy. The movements of these plates can build mountains or cause volcanoes to erupt. d) What other primary effects resulted from the earthquake? The transportation network was completely paralyzed, and the inadequacy of national disaster preparedness was also exposed. Like all earthquakes, this one was caused by movements in the earth’s crust. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. Regions are the basic units of geography. Join our community of educators and receive the latest information on National Geographic's resources for you and your students. …1995, following the January 17 Kōbe earthquake that devastated the Kōbe area in west-central Japan. Mechanism of the earthquake Most of the largest earthquakes in Japan are caused by subduction of the Philippine Sea Plate or Pacific Plate, with mechanisms that involve either energy released within the subducting plate or the accumulation and sudden release of stress in the overlying plate. The Earth’s surface may seem motionless most of the time, but it’s actually always moving, ever so slowly, at a scale that is difficult for humans to perceive. The Great Hanshin Earthquake. The quake cost more than $100 billion in damage, and the Kobe government spent years construct ing new facilities to attract back the 50,000 people who left after the quake. The clash of these plates can also cause violent earthquakes, where Earth’s surface shakes. Learn more about earthquakes with this curated collection of classroom resources. The Hanshin earthquake was the worst earthquake in Japan since the 1923 Tokyo earthquake, which is also called the Great Kanto earthquake. Kobe, Japan is near 3 tectonic plates (great big slabs of the earths crust that move around due to the convection currents massive circuits of lava under the surface of the earth.) One of the most devastating earthquakes takes place in Japan! National Geographic Headquarters Earthquakes are more common in some parts of the world than others, because some places, like California, sit on top of the meeting point, or fault, of two plates. The worst effected area was in the central part of Kobe, a region about 5km … The earthquake's destructiveness was due to its relatively shallow depth rather than magnitude, seismologists said yesterday. Corrections? Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service. The Hanshin region (the name is derived from the characters used to write Ōsaka and Kōbe) is Japan’s second largest urban area, with more than 11 million inhabitants; with the earthquake’s epicentre located as close as it was to such a densely populated area, the effects were overwhelming. Earthquake Kobe Japan 1995 . 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