1. Japan's strict regulations on quake-proof buildings, as well as its efficient warning system which automatically flashes the size of tremors and warnings about tidal waves onto TV screens. Shows that they are somewhat prepared.
2. Modern earthquake-proof structures can withstand the stress of major earthquakes ( in the 7.0 range anyway), but old ones can't. Modern earthquake-proof structures that do survive are, however, often seriously damaged and very expensive to repair, Kobe earthquake happened in 1995, there were many old houses.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Effects and results of Kobe Earthquake
1. The damage was estimated around $102.5 billion.
2. It is one of the 'costliest' earthquake in the record.
3. 200,000 buildings, the collapse of 1km of the Hanshin Expressway, and destruction of 120 of the 150 quays in the port of Kobe.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
What exactly caused the Kobe Earthquake?
The denser oceanic Philippines Plate is being subducted beneath the lighter continental Eurasian Plate at a rate of about 10 centimetres per year. Earthquakes are very common here and happen because of the friction resulting from the two plates colliding along this destructive margin.
The great destruction which resulted from the 1995 Kobe Earthquake was due to the shallow depth of the focus which was only about 16km below the surface and the fact that the epicentre occurred close to a very heavily populated area. Seismic shockwaves travelled from Awaji Island(the epicentre) along the Nojima Fault to the cities of Kobe and Osaka. The earthquake had a "strike-slip mechanism." The resulting surface rupture had an average horizontal displacement of about 1.5 meters on the Nojima fault. This fault which runs along the northwest shore of Awaji Island.
Information on Kobe Earthquake
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