Earthquake in Kobe,Japan 1995

An earthquake is a natural disaster that takes place when seismic waves, which is movement in the tectonic plates, are created when energy is released in the Earth's crust. An instrument called the seismometer is used to measure earthquakes with a scale called the Richter scale. A earthquake below 3 on the Richter scale does not cause that damage whereas an earthquake of 5 and above can be very dangerous.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake) The epicenter is the point where the earthquake originated.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicentre)Below is a diagram of how an earthquake takes place.(http://www.richmond.ca/__shared/assets/Earthquake_Diagram11097.jpg)

earthquake was the Philippine plate and the EurasianThe Kobe earthquake took place on January 17th, 1995. The plates that were involved in this plate, and Pacific plate.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Hanshin_earthquake#Plate_Tectonics) The Philippine is an oceanic crust so it was thrust under the Eurasian plate, which is continental crust.(www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/ astronomy/planets/earth/continents.shtml) This type of plate boundary is called a destructive plate boundary. It was when these three plates collided against each other that the earthquake had been caused.

Effects of an earthquake are observed by looking at three factors: its magnitude and location, area's distance from the epicenter, and quality of structures and the time of day. The magnitude of this earthquake was 7.2 on the Richter scale, which is extremely severe and caused a lot of destruction in the city. The total duration of this earthquake was 20 seconds. The epicenter of this earthquake was near the paddy fields in Kobe. The soil of the fields started to spread apart from each other as the ground shook, which caused 102,000 buildings to collapse. Railways were also destroyed and part of the Kobe highway broke off, which caused cars that were on it to soar through air and crash into the ground. Some roads were also raised above the ground while others sank. The city lost a lot of its resources because water, electricity, and gas lines ran underground. So when the ground shifted, all pipes were broken and destroyed. Gas explosions and fires were results of the pipes breaking and so many homes were burnt down. In a mere matter of seconds, more than 150 billion dollars of infrastructure was destroyed. 5,250 people were killed and more than 400,000 people were homeless. The city was at shock at first by the earthquake, but soon repairs started to be made. By January 24th, 589 evacuation homes were built and a month later schools were reopened. Electricity, gas, and phone lines were fixed and running smoothly by July 1995. 1.13 million volunteers from all around Japan came to Kobe to help rebuild the city. Buildings were constructed to be more earthquake restraint and many laws were passed to allow this. A lot of donations and fund raisers took place to help the victims of this earthquake, such as the Kobe Housing Transition Center and the Post-Quake Citizen Support Services. (http://artsci.wustl.edu/~copeland/kobe.html)













The reason why people still live in Kobe is because it is the main port city in Japan. So a lot of companies and international corporations have their businessses set up in this city. All trading with western countries are done in the ports of Kobe. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobe#Economy)

Effects of an earthquake in an LEDC is much greater than the effects in an MEDC. Some reasons why is because buildings in MEDC's are more likely to be built to withstand earthquakes than in LEDC's because it would be too costly for LEDC's. For example, in the Kobe earthquake only about 5,000 people were killed whereas in Turkey, an earthquake that had been 6.8-7.0 on the Richter scale killed 17,000 people. Another reason is because MEDC's are more likely to have plans and emergency drills planned out in case of natural hazards unlike LEDC's which lack disaster response plans. LEDC's often need the help of MEDC's when a natural hazard takes place because more money and resources are needed. So for aid to come to LEDC's could take a few days and by then more people who were trapped or sick could have died. (http://www.geography.learnontheinternet.co.uk/topics/earthquakes_impact_response.html)

In conclusion, earthquakes are a type of natural disaster that can be very dangerous and cause a lot of problems in a country, especially in LEDC's. Hopefully, this information helped realise how severe the repercussions can be and see that people need to be more aware of this destructive natural disaster.

Bibliography

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicentre
• http://www.richmond.ca/__shared/assets/Earthquake_Diagram11097.jpg
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Hanshin_earthquake#Plate_Tectonicsquake#Plate_Tectonics
• www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/planets/earth/continents.shtml
• http://artsci.wustl.edu/~copeland/kobe.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobe#Economy
• http://www.geography.learnontheinternet.co.uk/topics/earthquakes_impact_response.html