The Deaths of People in the Kobe Earthquake

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The Deaths of People in the Kobe Earthquake

As a class we have been asked to investigate "Why did so many people

die in the Kobe earthquake?" In this project I will be covering:

1.Where, when and why the earthquake happened and which plates were

involved.

2.What the primary and secondary effects were.

3.How well prepared the Japanese people were for the earthquake.

4.How well people coped with the disaster.

5.How the Japanese authorities put thing's right afterwards.

To do this I will be using my class work and searching the internet to

help find pictures, diagrams and useful resources.

Where, when and why?

Where?

The earthquake happened in Kobe, in Japan, which is towards the south

of the island, underlined in red on the map below. Kobe is situated on

flat land between high mountains and the sea. It is an important route

centre because it has motorway (Hanshin Expressway) and intercity

('bullet train') railway lines passing through it and a large modern

port, which handles millions of tonnes of trade each year.

Japan

When?

At 5:46am (while many citizens were still asleep) on the 17th of

January, 1995 the huge earthquake struck measuring 7.2 on the Richter

scale. It was Japans largest earthquake since the one that hit Tokyo

in 1923! Seismic waves (travelling waves of energy) moved towards the

surface and disturbed buildings, roads, bridges, sewage systems and

main supplies of water, electricity and gas.

Why?

The earthquake happened because the Eurasian, Philippine Sea and

Pacific tectonic plates (sections of the earth's crust which float on

mantle) were all moving towards each ...

... middle of paper ...

...operly. It's

so simple; I don't know how they managed to go so wrong! If people

like me can understand and work out how to prepare for an earthquake,

then what kind of fools were running the country at the time and not

taking the right actions?!! And, who influenced them to do so?!

Overall, I think the Kobe earthquake was a complete disaster. It

wasn't anyone's fault that it happened, but if I had to blame anybody

for the high amount of deaths it would be the government. Even though

Japan has got loads and loads of money, they didn't spend it wisely

and because of it probably the whole population suffered in some way.

In my opinion they took careless, unthoughtful actions before hand,

without a backup plan, which cost thousands of people their lives,

which can never be repaid for, no matter how much money there is!

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