Kobe+Earthquake,+Japan


 * ** Location: ** Tuesday, January 17th,1995 at 5.46am (local time)
 * [[image:http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9701/17/kobe.anniv/japan.kobe.map.lg.jpg]]
 * Struck the Kobe region of **south-central Japan -** Japan is an island chain in Eastern Asia, between the north Pacific Ocean and the sea of Japan
 * Population: 127,078,679 (July 2009 est.)
 * Life expectancy: 82.12 years (3rd highest in the world)
 * Literacy rate: 99%
 * GDP per capita: $32,600 (41st in the world, 2009 est.) - //CIA World Factbook//
 * This region is the **second most populated and industrialized r**egion (after Tokyo), with a population of 10 million people
 * **Earthquake details:** Magnitude of **7.2** on the Richter scale (earthquakes under three on the Richter scale do not cause damage, whereas over five they are damaging)
 * The ground shook for about 20 seconds
 * Focus: 16km down ( //source: www.georesources.co.uk)//
 * ** Why did it happen here? ** Close to Kobe, the denser **Philippine plate** is being **subducted** beneath the lighter continental **Eurasion plate** at a rate of about 10cm a year
 * [[image:http://scienceblogs.com/highlyallochthonous/upload/2007/07/Japaneq.jpg width="239" height="221"]]
 * The Japanese arc has been formed from the molten magma being released from the Philipine plate
 * Earthquakes are common in Japan due to the **friction** from the three plates colliding along this **destructive plate margin**
 * This earthquake had a shallow focus (16km deep), which made it more damaging
 * The epicentre was close to a densely populated area, which made it even more dangerous
 * **Seismic shockwaves** travelled from **Awaji Island** (the epicentre) along the **Nojima Fault** to the cities of Kobe and Osaka
 * **Physical impacts:** T he ground moved up to 50cm horizontally and 1m vertically
 * Secondary effects such as the **fires** (triggered by broken gas pipes and sparks from electrical cables) which rapidly spread over Kobe also damaged land - these also destroyed around 7500 wooden homes
 * 1300 aftershocks followed
 * The epicentre was near to the paddy fields of Kobe, and therefore the soil moved apart easily as the ground shook - this was also an economic impact, as rice is the staple food of Asian countries
 * ** Social impacts: ** During the 20 second quake, 5,250 people died and 300,000 were made homeless
 * Many of the older, wooden houses completely collapsed
 * Emergency housing had to be provided, and the severe winter weather (-2 degrees celcius) made this difficult
 * **Economic impacts:** Economic cost of damage: 0.2% GNP (compared to cost of Tokyo quake in 1923, 7% GNP) ( //source: ‘Savage Earth’-book of the ITV series)//
 * £ 150 billion damage to roads, houses, factories and infrastructure
 * Office blocks, built in the 1960s, frequently collapsed in the middle but left the floors above them intact
 * Modern, earthquake-proof buildings suffered little damage, although some were left at an angle when the ground beneath them liquified
 * Many people were not insured, due to it being hard to obtain when living in such an earthquake-prone area - this made rebuilding difficult
 * Important transport and commuter routes, and ports had to be closed, for example 130km of the 'bullet train' rail network, and several sections of the motorway
 * 3-5% of Japan's industry is located in Kobe, on reclaimed, flat land near to the port - much of this was lost to liquifecation, which had severe impacts on the economy and people's jobs
 * Western trading happens in the ports of Kobe, and this was affected
 * Both Japanese companies and international businesses' offices were lost
 * Gas, water and electrical sources were lost because pipes ran underground
 * ** Responses: ** Although the city was initially shocked, repairs soon began to take place
 * By January 24th, 589 evacuation homes had been built and a month later schools were reopened
 * Electricity, gas and phonelines were fixed and running smoothly again by July
 * 1.13 million volunteers from around Japan came to Kobe to help to rebuild it
 * New buildings were constructed with stricter earthquake regulations, and laws were passed to ensure this happened
 * Money to rebuild Kobe came from within the country itself, for example from the Kobe Housing Transition Centre (unlike in a place like Haiti, where international aid is needed)
 * ** Why was Japan (an MEDC) not as badly affected as an LEDC country would have been?: **
 * Building standards are higher, and therefore more able to withstand earthquakes due to enforced regulations - for example, in Kobe around 5,000 people were killed, whereas 6.8-7.0 earthquake in Turkey killed 17,000 people, many die to buildings 'pancaking' on their residents
 * MEDCs are more likely to prepared for disasters, both through early warning systems (which they have the money to fund) and, because the populations are literate and easy to contact, practise-drills in what to do in case of an earthquake are easier to practise (Japan's earthquake day is held on the 1st of September)
 * LEDCs often require the aid of MEDCs, which can take a few days to arrive, meaning more people can die through sickness or injuries. Also, some countries may not request aid for political reasons, leaving the population even more vulnerable (for example the Burmese government refused aid after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami)