Kobe Earthquake Case Study

On Tuesday, January 17th 1995, at 5.46 a.m. (local time), an earthquake of

magnitude 7.2 on the Richter Scale struck the Kobe region of south-central
Japan. This region is the second most populated and industrialized area after
Tokyo, with a total population of about 10 million people. The ground shook for
only about 20 seconds but in that short time, over 5,000 people died, over
300,000 people became homeless and damage worth an estimated £100 billion
was caused to roads, houses, factories and infrastructure (gas, electric, water,
sewerage, phone cables, etc).

Why did the earthquake happen here?

Three crustal plates meet near to the coast of Japan. Close to Kobe, the denser oceanic Philippines Plate
is being subducted beneath the lighter continental Eurasian Plate at a rate of about 10 centimetres per
year. The Japanese island arc has been formed from the molten magma released by the melting
Philippines Plate. Earthquakes are very common here and happen because of the friction resulting from
the two plates colliding along this destructive margin. [In 1923, the Great Kanto Earthquake killed
140,000 people in this area.] The great destruction which resulted from the 1995 Kobe Earthquake was
due to the shallow depth of the focus which was only about 16 kms. below the surface and the fact that
the epicentre occurred close to a very heavily populated area. Seismic shockwaves travelled from Awaji
Island (the epicentre) along the Nojima Fault to the cities of Kobe and Osaka.

The Effects of the Earthquake:

The immediate effects of the earthquake are known as primary effects. They include the collapse of
buildings, bridges and roads resulting from the seismic waves shaking the crust. During the 20 second
earthquake, the ground moved up to 50 centimetres horizontally and up to 1 metre vertically. Some of
the deaths were caused by these primary effects.
The secondary effects include the fires that broke out all over the city of Kobe, the congestion and
chaos on the roads, the closure of businesses and the problem of homelessness. Many more people died
in the fires that followed the earthquake. Problems were made worse by the large number of
aftershocks (over 1,300).

Many of the older, wooden houses completely

collapsed. Fire, triggered by broken gas pipes and
sparks from severed electrical cables, caused a
huge amount of damage, destroying at least 7,500
wooden homes. Office blocks built in the 1960's of
steel and concrete frequently collapsed in the
middle so that a whole floor was crushed but the
rooms above and below remained intact. Modern
buildings, designed to be earthquake proof, did
quite well on the whole and suffered little damage,
although some were left standing at an angle when
the ground beneath them liquefied. An additional
problem for rebuilding was that most people were
not covered by insurance due to the difficulties of
insuring such an earthquake prone area.

Almost 300,000 people were made homeless by

the earthquake and had to be given emergency
shelter. The severe winter weather (-2°C.) made
this a serious problem. People were put into
schools, town halls, open parks, etc. and were
forced to live, in some cases for long periods, in
overcrowded, unsanitary conditions. Food,
blankets, medical supplies and clean water were,
for the first few days, in short supply. The
scale of the problem made it difficult for the
authorities to cope.
 Kobe is an important route centre. It has motorway
(Hanshin Expressway) and intercity ('bullet train')
railway lines passing through it and a large modern
port which handles millions of tonnes of trade each
year. The earthquake caused massive damage to all the
transport facilities. Several sections of motorway,
many of which were built above the ground on tall
concrete stilts, collapsed or toppled sideways. This
resulted in the Hanshin Expressway being completely
closed. Railway lines were buckled and many stations
damaged. A 130 kilometre section of the 'bullet train'
rail network had to be closed. At the port, cranes
tilted or fell and 120 (out of 150) quays where ships
were moored were destroyed. Port buildings and their
contents were badly damaged in many places.

Between 3% and 5% of Japan’s industry is

located in and around Kobe. This includes most
types of industry - from light manufacturing to
high-technology and heavy industry. Due to the
shortage of suitable flat land, as elsewhere in
Japan, much of the industry is concentrated
near the port on reclaimed land. Strong ground
movements led to settlement and liquefaction in
these areas and so damage to industry was
severe. The difficulties of transporting raw
materials and finished goods to, from, and
within the region also caused great problems for
well-known industries such as Panasonic and
Mitsubishi. Industries affected include
shipbuilding, steelworks, breweries,
pharmaceutical, computer hardware and
consumer goods firms.

How did the authorities cope with the Putting things right after the earthquake
earthquake? • water, electricity, gas, telephone services were
Japan prides itself on being well prepared for fully working by July 1995
earthquakes. Most new buildings and roads have,
• The railways were back in service by August
in the last 20 years, been designed to be
1995
earthquake proof, schools and factories have
regular earthquake drills, etc. As it turned out, • A year after the earthquake, 80% of the port
however, things did not go according to plan. was working but the Hanshin Expressway was
Many older buildings still collapsed or caught still closed.
fire. This led to many blocked roads and massive • By January 1999, 134,000 housing units had
problems of homelessness. Telephones and been constructed but some people were still
other communication services were put out of having to live in temporary accommodation.
action making communication slow and difficult.
• New laws were passed to make buildings and
Electricity and water supplies were badly
transport structures even more earthquake
damaged over large areas. This meant no power
proof.
for heating, lights, cooking, etc. Clean, fresh
water was in short supply until April 1995. The • More instruments were installed in the area to
government and city authorities were criticised monitor earthquake movements.
for being slow to rescue people and for refusing
offers of help from other countries. Many
people had to sleep in cars or tents in cold
winter conditions. A large number of the people
affected were elderly and many of the effects
are unquantifiable - disrupted schooling,
increased unemployment, worry, stress and
mental fatigue.