Kobe Earthquake of 17 January 1995, Mw 6.9
One century after the 1895 Quchan earthquake and a year after the 1994 Northridge earthquake, another severe damage occurred and Kobe, Japan. The Kobe earthquake hit at 5:46 am local time (20:46 UTC) on Tuesday, January 17, 1995, in the southern part of Hyogo prefecture, west-central Honshu. It lasted about 20 seconds and registered as a moment magnitude 6.9. Its epicentre was the northern part of Awaji Island in the Inland Sea, 20 km off the coast of the port city of Kobe. Due to this earthquake, about 5502 people confirmed killed and 36,896 injured. According to the USGS’s report, over 90 percent of the casualties occurred along the southern coast of Honshu between Kobe and Nishinomiya. At least 28 people were killed by a landslide at Nishinomiya. About 310,000 people were evacuated to temporary shelters. Over 200,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed. Numerous fires, gas and water main breaks and power outages occurred in the epicentral area. Right-lateral surface faulting was observed for 9 kilometers with horizontal displacement of 1.2 to 1.5 meters in the northern part of Awaji-shima. Liquefaction also occurred in the epicentral area.
