1995 Kobe earthquake
  Tokyo
Kobe
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| Date | January 17, 1995 |
|---|---|
| Origin time | 05:46:53 |
| Magnitude | 6.9 Mw |
| Depth | 17.6 km (10.9 mi) |
| Epicenter | 34°35′N 135°04′E / 34.59°N 135.07°ECoordinates: 34°35′N 135°04′E / 34.59°N 135.07°E |
| Type | Strike-slip |
| Areas affected | Japan |
| Total damage | $200 billion USD |
| Max. intensity | Shindo 7 |
| Peak acceleration | 0.8 g |
| Casualties | 5,502–6,434 killed 36,896–43,792 injured 251,301–310,000 displaced |
The Great Hanshin earthquake (阪神・淡路大震災 Hanshin Awaji daishinsai?), or Kobe earthquake, occurred on January 17, 1995 at 05:46:53 JST (January 16 at 20:46:53 UTC) in the southern part of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, known as . It measured 6.9 on the moment magnitude scale and 7 on the JMA Shindo intensity scale. The tremors lasted for approximately 20 seconds. The focus of the earthquake was located 17 km beneath its epicenter, on the northern end of Awaji Island, 20 km away from the city of Kobe.
Up to 6,434 people lost their lives; about 4,600 of them were from Kobe. Among major cities, Kobe, with its population of 1.5 million, was the closest to the epicenter and hit by the strongest tremors. This was Japan's worst earthquake in the 20th century after the Great Kantō earthquake in 1923, which claimed more than 105,000 lives.
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. Earthquakes of these types are especially frequent in the coastal regions of northeastern Japan.
The Great Hanshin earthquake belonged to a third type, called an "inland shallow earthquake". Earthquakes of this type occur along active faults. Even at lower magnitudes, they can be very destructive because they often occur near populated areas and because their hypocenters are located less than 20 km below the surface. The Great Hanshin earthquake began north of the island of Awaji, which lies just south of Kobe. It spread toward the southwest along the Nojima Fault on Awaji and toward the northeast along the Suma and Suwayama faults, which run through the center of Kobe. Observations of deformations in these faults suggest that the area was subjected to east-west compression, which is consistent with previously known crustal movements. Like other earthquakes recorded in western Japan between 1891 and 1948, the 1995 earthquake had a strike-slip mechanism that accommodated east-west shortening of the Eurasian Plate due to its collision with the Philippine Sea Plate in central Honshu.
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