Hanshin Awaji Great Earthquake ??? The Great Hanshin earthquake (阪神・淡路大震災 Hanshin Awaji daishinsai?), or Kobe earthquake, occurred on Tuesday, January 17, 1995, at 05:46 JST (January 16 at 20:46 UTC) in the southern part of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. It measured 6.8 on the moment magnitude scale (USGS),[2] and Mj7.3 (adjusted from 7.2) on JMA magnitude scale.[3] The tremors lasted for approximately 20 seconds. The focus of the earthquake was located 16 km beneath its epicenter,[3] on the northern end of Awaji Island, 20 km away from the city of Kobe. Approximately 6,434 people lost their lives (final estimate as of December 22, 2005); about 4,600 of them were from Kobe.[1] Among major cities, Kobe, with its population of 1.5 million, was the closest to the epicenter and hit by the strongest tremors. This was Japans worst earthquake in the 20th century after the Great Kantō earthquake in 1923, which claimed more than 105,000 lives. The 1995 earthquake caused approximately ten trillion yen ($100 billion) in damage, 2.5% of Japans GDP at the time.
Posted on: Sat, 17 Jan 2015 04:35:03 +0000
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