Compare and contrast the nature, impact and

management and responses to two seismic

events you have studied.

30 marks
 Kobe, 1995
Nature Of Seismic Event
The earthquake struck at 5.45am local time on January 17th 1995.
Kobe lies on a convergent plate boundary, where the Philippines
Plate is being subducted under the Eurasian Plate.
It hit 7.2 on the Richter Scale.
The focus of the earthquake was shallow at only 16km below the
earth's surface and was located 20km away from Kobe itself on
Awaji Island.
The tremors lasted for around 20 seconds.
 Kobe, 1995
Primary Effects
A final estimate put over 6,000 people dead and a further
30,000 injured
Several sections of the motorway were destroyed and fell
sideways causing further damage
Soils were liquified (land loses strength and stiffness due to
an applied stress and causes it to act as a liquid) and
caused many buildings made to withstand earthquakes,
standing at an angle.
Many of the older wooden buildings collapsed
10% of schools and 14% of services were destroyed
A large section of railway was destroyed and an 130km
section of the 'bullet train' rail network had to be closed.
More than 45,000 homes were destroyed
 Kobe, 1995
Secondary Effects
Fires were caused by burst gas pipes and it is estimated that
4,500 wooden homes were burnt down
Almost 300,00 people were made homeless
2 million homes were left without electricity
1 million people were without water supply for 10 days
Damage caused was assessed at the coat of $102 billion, 2.5%
of Japans GDP
Businesses such as Panasonic had to close temporarily
As 10% of Kobe's infrastructure was lost, remaining roads
became blocked, delaying the emergency services.
 Kobe, 1995
Responses
Emergency services and the army were brought in from
surrounding areas to help.
Heat-seeking equipment was used to find people who were
trapped.
Emergency shelters were set up to house the 300,000 people that
were made homeless.
Water and food supplies were brought in.
The railways were back in service by August 1995.
One year later 80% of Kobe Port was back in full working order.
 Kobe, 1995
Management
New laws have been passed to make new buildings and transport
structures even more earthquake proof
Schools do regular earthquake drills with their pupils
Many households have earthquake kits, which include bottled water,
rice, a radio and fire extinguishers.
More instruments were installed in order to detect future earthquakes.
Fire breaks have been built by demolishing some buildings, in hope
that if fires ever broke out again, they would not spread as far as
before.
The Japanese Government have built earthquake proof shelters in
public parks
Japan has introduced the annual 'Disaster Day' where everyone
practices earthquake drills
 Market Rasen, 2008
Nature Of Seismic Event
The earthquake struck Lincolnshire on 27th February 2008 at 12:56am
The earthquake was the result of an old fault line deep below
Lincolnshire, it was caused by a sudden movement along a strike-slip
fault.
It measure 5.2 on the Richter Scale and 16.8km deep, which is relatively
shallow.
The tremors could be felt for roughly around 10 seconds
The epicenter was 2.5miles north of Market Rasen
The tremors could be felt as far south as Hampshire
and as far north as Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
 Market Rasen, 2008
Primary Effects
Many buildings experienced structural
damage
A 19 year old broke his pelvis as part of the
chimney of his home fell through the roof
in North Yorkshire
There were power cuts in some areas.
The St Mary Magdalene Church in Waltham
on the Wolds experienced great damage
to its spire in Leicestershire.
 Market Rasen, 2008
Secondary Effects
One fire was caused by the quake.
9 aftershocks were recorded,the largest
measuring at 2.8 on the Richter Scale on the 5th
April.
It cost a total £100,000 to rebuild the spire of the
St Mary Magdalene Church in Waltham on the
Wolds
 Market Rasen, 2008
Responses
The emergency services were called out to 50
incidences caused by the earthquake and the
fire service had one fire to tackle.
 Market Rasen, 2008
Management
A permanent earthquake monitoring station has
been set up which includes underground
monitoring and recording equipment and is
capable of monitoring earthquakes all over the
UK.
 How were the earthquakes
similar?
Both earthquakes were relatively shallow, at
around 16km deep.
Both events happened in MEDCs.
Emergency services were called in response of
the events in each earthquake.
 Why were they so different?
Many of the building structures could not withstand
the shaking in Kobe whereas only minimal
structural damage was caused in Market Rasen.
Kobe,a city, has a population of over 1.5 million
people compared to the population of 3,200 in
the small town of Market Rasen. This means
Kobe has a much larger population density
Due to each earthquake, there has been an
increase in monitoring.