The Kobe Earthquake

KOBE 1995 [pic] Collapse of Bank Building. Photo courtesy of capital of japan University. order of magnitude AND EPICENTER The swell Hanshin seism occurred at 5:46 a.m. on Tuesday, January 17, 1995. This seism is also called by the pursuance names: Kobe, federation Hyogo, Hyogo-ken Nanbu. The earthquake had a local magnitude of 7.2. The duration was almost 20 seconds. The focus of the earthquake was less(prenominal) than 20 km below Awaji-shima, an island in the Japan landlocked Sea. This island is near the urban center of Kobe, which is a port city. The earthquake was particularly devastating because it had a shallow focus. The earthquake had a strike-slip mechanism. The resulting surface rupture had an amount horizontal displacement of nearly 1.5 meters on the Nojima fault. This fault which runs along the northwest shore of Awaji Island. wipeout TOLL The earthquake caused 5100 deaths, mainly in Kobe. The Hanshin earthquake was the pound earthqu ake in Japan since the 1923 Tokyo earthquake, which is also called the Great Kanto earthquake. The Great Kanto earthquake claimed 140,000 lives. On the separate(a) hand, the Kobe region was thought to be fairly safe in terms of seismal activity. morphologic DAMAGE The cities of Kobe and Osaka are connected by an elevated highway.

The earthquake caused several portions of this highway to collapse. Most of the deaths and injuries occurred when senior(a) wood-frame houses with heavy clay cover roofs collapsed. Note that homes and buildings are intentional to be very(prenominal) loaded in the vertical tutelage because they must support their stimulate static weight. On the other hand, buildings can be very susceptibl! e to horizontal design motion. Furthermore, many of the structures in Kobe construct since 1981 had been designed to strict seismic codes. Most of these buildings withstood the earthquake. In particular, newly built ductile-frame high mature buildings were generally undamaged. Unfortunately, many of the buildings in Kobe had been built before the...If you essential to get a sound essay, order it on our website: OrderEssay.net

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