RS - KOBE EARTHQUAKE (MEDC)

Question 1

What was the date and time of the earthquake?

Answer 1

17th January 1995, at 5.46am

Question 2

What plates were involved and what happened between them?

Answer 2

The Philippines plate shifted uneasily beneath the Eurasian plate along the Nojima fault line that runs beneath Kobo

Question 3

What did the collisions of plates lead to?

Answer 3

An earthquake measuring 7.2 on the richter scale, with tremors lasting 20 seconds

Question 4

What were the short term effects of the earthquake? (specifically effecting people)

Answer 4

• 6,500 people died
• 40,000 people seriously injured
• 300,00 people made homeless
• 2 million people without electricity
• 1 million people without water for 10 days

Question 5

What were the short term effects (specifically effecting the roads and houses)

Answer 5

• Gas mains ruptured
• Water pipes fractured
• Railway lines buckled
• Fire engulfed parts of the city (120/150 ports damaged)

Question 6

How did people cope with the earthquake?

Answer 6

People huddled in blankets on the streets and in tended shelters in parks in fear of returning to buildings damaged by the earthquake

Question 7

What did the damage cost?

Answer 7

In excess of $22o billion and companies such as Panasonic had to close temporarily

Question 8

What were the long term effects?

Answer 8

• Hospitals struggled to cope with the injured, treating people and operating in corridors
• Railways took a month to be 80% operational
• Port was 80% operational after a year but much of the business had been lost
• Road network took over 6 months to be restored (Hanshin Expressway took a year!)
• Economy suffered

Question 9

What were the responses?

Answer 9

• Friends and neighbours searched through the rubble for survivors and were soon later joined by the emergency services
• Major retailer like 7-Eleven helped provide essentials
• Motorola maintained telephone connections free of chargev

Question 10

What were the differences between the buildings that survived and the ones that collapsed

Answer 10

The buildings that survived has been built with a 1981 code whereas the others had been built with earlier 1960s practises

Question 11

What were new buildings made like for the future?

Answer 11

• Built further apart to prevent domino effect
• High rise buildings built with flexible steel frames
• Others built with concrete frames reinforced with steel
• Rubber blocks put under bridges to absorb shock

Question 12

What do the Japanese do now every year after this disaster?

Answer 12

They practise an earthquake drill to prepare them for an event such as Kobo - over 800,000 people participated on a drill in August 2006