1995 January 17 Devastating Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake

Abstract

The chapter explains the ground motions due to Hanshin Earthquake, compares their severity with the other ground motions due to the other recent earthquakes and the standard earthquakes such as E1 Centro Earthquake, in linear and non-linear response. The Hanshin Earthquake caused severe damage to the southern portion of the Hyogo Prefecture, particularly to the city of Kobe in Japan. The severely damaged areas are located in a narrow band extending from the northern part of the Awaji Island to Takarazuka city and includes the cities of Kobe, Ashiya, and Nishinomiya. Ground motions due to Hanshin Earthquake were found to be more severe in linear and nonlinear response compared with those due to other earthquakes in Japan. The damage features of steel buildings and wooden houses in the earthquake affected areas are explained in this chapter. In Japan, ground motion intensities are generally assigned a numerical value according to the Japanese Shindo scale by the Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA). For the Hanshin earthquake, the cities of Kobe and summits of near Mountain of Rokko were assigned Shindo 6 intensity; whereas the cities of Kyoto, Hikone, and Toyoka were assigned Shindo 5 intensity.