Earthquake Japan Kobe City – January 1995

On 17 January, 1995, early in the morning, Kobe, Japan, experienced the nation’s most destructive earthquake since 1946. In this disaster killing more than 6,000 people and more than 45,000 people homeless. Damage was extensive and there were many casualties. The Kobe quake was a result of an east-west strike-slip fault where the Eurasian and Philippine plates interact. Additionally, around 105,000 buildings were damaged beyond repair and numerous others suffered lesser forms of damage. The financial costs of the earthquake were in excess of 150 billion U.S. dollars.

An 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.