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Great Hanshin-Awaji (Kobe) Earthquake, January 16, 1995 |
| On the morning of January 17, 1995 (January 16 at 20:46 GMT), a major earthquake occurred near the City of Kobe, Japan. The greatest intensity of shaking for the 6.9 magnitude earthquake was in a narrow corridor of two to four kilometers stretching 40 km along the coast of Osaka Bay. The worst destruction ran along the previously undetected fault on the coast, east of Kobe. Kobe's major businesses and port facilities, and residences are located on this strip. This earthquake caused 5,480 deaths, and totally destroyed more than 192,000 houses and buildings. The slide set shows damage in the downtown region and along the waterfront. It illustrates structural types that were vulnerable to failure. |
Badly damaged communication building | |
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Near the Oriental Hotel at 8:00 A.M. January 13, 1995. Gus Tanaka is standing near the badly damaged communication building. The fourth floor collapsed onto the third floor. Note the street up upheaval behind Mr. Tanaka. Photo credit: Dr. Roger Hutchison |
Totally collapsed Buddhist temple | |
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A totally collapsed Buddhist temple in downtown Kobe. The building of newer construction next to this temple had only minimal damage. Photo credit: Dr. Roger Hutchison |
Lobby of Oriental Hotel | |
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The lobby of the Oriental Hotel. The ceiling and support structures were badly damaged. Survivors huddle in the background waiting for rescue crews to evacuate them. Photo credit: Dr. Roger Hutchison |
Damaged Kobe waterfront | |
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The Kobe waterfront on January 17, 1995, at 8:30 A.M. showing damage to the pier and waterfront. Widespread ground failure was observed throughout the strongly shaken region along the margin of Osaka Bay. Liquefaction caused subsidence in the range of 50 to 300 cm in some areas; large volumes of silt were ejected. Local lateral spreading of soils occurred along quay walls in many parts of the extensive port facilities. Before the earthquake, about thirty percent of Japan's commercial shipping passed through the Port of Kobe. Photo credit: Dr. Roger Hutchison |
Cars and buildings have slipped into the bay | |
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The Kobe waterfront at 10:00 A.M. Cars, bikes, and buildings have fallen into the bay. The Japanese Coast Guard boats cruise the harbor (background) assisting survivors. Liquefaction and flooding were commonnear the waterfront. Photo credit: Dr. Roger Hutchison |
Collapsed fifth floor of high rise | |
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The fifth floor totally collapsed on this high rise in the commercial section of Kobe. Many buildings had either a collapsed first or fifth floor. Such floor failures often occurred in buildings that appeared from the outside to have floors of equal strength and identical construction. The first and fifth floors were especially vulnerable since they were at the internodes of the sine wave. Photo credit: Dr. Roger Hutchison |
Collapsed walkway between two buildings | |
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Another view of the high rise building. Note the collapsed walkway between two buildings. The lower walkway remains intact and the glass in the windows remains unbroken. Photo credit: Dr. Roger Hutchison |
Collapsed first floor of retail store | |
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A retail store in downtown Kobe. Often the first floors gave way during the first few seconds of the earthquake. Nearly every building in central Kobe had some visible damage, but most structural damage occurred in older buildings. Photo credit: Dr. Roger Hutchison |
Leaning office building | |
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An office building in Kobe. Many buildings were out of plumb, or leaning. This was usually caused by partial collapse of a floor on one side of the building, or by permanent offset of the structural system. Photo credit: Dr. Roger Hutchison |
Office building with partially destroyed first floor | |
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Another office building with a partially destroyed first floor. The majority of partial or complete collapses were in the older, reinforced concrete buildings built before 1975. However, significant non-structural damage was also observed for buildings of relatively recent steel or composite construction. Photo credit: Dr. Roger Hutchison |
Completely destroyed concrete frame building | |
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A completely destroyed concrete frame office building. Such collapses blocked streets, making it difficult for firefighters to extinguish flames. Only a minimal number of firefighters were on duty at 5:46 A.M. when the earthquake occurred. Three hours after the earthquake there were at least 150 significant, simultaneous fires in the city. The only water available at this time came from tanker trucks. Photo credit: Dr. Roger Hutchison |
Collapsed fifth floor in central business district | |
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Kobe's central business district. The building on the right has lost its fifth floor; windows are shattered. Photo credit: Dr. Roger Hutchison |
Truck crushed beneath fallen debris | |
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The top of an office building crushed a flat bed delivery truck below. The cab of the truck is to the left of the image. Photo credit: Dr. Roger Hutchison |
Completely destroyed apartment complex | |
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A completely destroyed apartment complex. Most of the 1.5 million residents of Kobe were asleep at the time of the quake. If the earthquake had occurred during the work day instead of at 5:46 A.M., the death toll would have been more than 50,000. Photo credit: Dr. Roger Hutchison |
Collapsed first and second stories | |
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The first and second stories of a metal frame office building collapsed. This photo demonstrates the lateral force of the quake and the structural damage caused by the sine wave effect of the force. Note the unbroken windows. Photo credit: Dr. Roger Hutchison |
Major split in foundation | |
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A major split in the foundation on the second level of the expressway leading to the shipping port terminal. The gap is five feet wide and drops 25 feet to the first level. The base of larger buildings often appeared to be a couple of inches higher than the adjacent sidewalk or street. Horizontal gaps between the base of the building and adjacent sidewalks and streets were common. This indicates that building response may have been influenced by soil-structure interaction. Photo credit: Dr. Roger Hutchison |
Smoke from Kobe fires | |
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Roger Hutchison, provider of these photos, stands at a vantage point across Osaka Bay. It is 11:00 A.M. on the day of the earthquake. Much of downtown Kobe was on fire by noon. There was no water pressure to put out the fires; many fires burned themselves out.Photo credit: Dr. Roger Hutchison |
Damaged support for Kobe expressway | |
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A support beam for the Kobe port expressway. This support was eight feet wide by 10 feet long. All support beams cracked in the same place due to the sine wave effect. Photo credit: Dr. Roger Hutchison |
Collapsed residential building | |
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This collapsed building is typical of many residential dwellings that collapsed, leading to the majority of deaths. There were two types of residential construction. Shinkabe, the oldest type, consists of a post-and-beam vertical load-carrying system. Mud-infilled, two-way bamboo latticed exterior and interior walls provide lateral resistance. In Okabae, a more recent style, thin, timber lath and stucco, replaces the bamboo lattice and mud. Both types of construction are highly vulnerable to earthquakes. Many second floor residences had shops with open windows on the first floor. This made them vulnerable to collapse of the ground floor. Widespread dry rot and wood decay accelerated the failure of load-bearing elements. Photo credit: Dr. Roger Hutchison |
Collapsed residential garage | |
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A residential garage collapsed in Kobe. In general, heavy tile roofs were inadequately supported, and many collapsed. Photo credit: Dr. Roger Hutchison |