Kobe is located between the sea and the Rokko mountain range and the "Kinki Triangle" which is surrounded by 3 major active faults and subduction zones. The region is located on the Eurasian plate, close to the intersection of the Philippine Sea Plate and the Pacific Plate (Bardet, J.P.). The epicenter of the earthquake was located on the Island of Awaji near the city of Kobe.

The movement of the Nojima fault was that of a strike slip movement, were the faults are moving horizontally. The rupture occurred under a heavy populated area created a great loss in life and destruction during this quake. The quake in Kobe may have resulted from the shallow depth of the focus which was only at 16 km below the surface. Shockwaves traveled from the epicenter at Awaji Island, along ht Nojima Fault line to Kobe and Osaka; Japan (1 Kobe Earthquake).

Figure 1

(This picture shows the location of Kobe in relation to the Pacific, Eurasian and Philippine tectonic Plates.)

Effects:

The initial effects of and earthquake are described as primary effects in Kobe’s’ case this included destruction of buildings, utilities and services, and lifelines . The surface rupture of the fault was observed in a rural area of Awaji Island with displacements recorded at 3 meters and few structures were damaged (Earthquake Effects). The quake occurred under an industrialized area of the city triggering destruction. More that 150,00 buildings were utterly destroyed The earthquake cost over ten trillion yen in damages to the overall Kansai area and 100 billion USD in damage, which makes it the costliest natural disaster to occur in any one country in the Guinness book of Records. There was extensive damage to roads, houses, factories and infrastructure. Many of the structures built in Kobe were under 1981 seismic codes and withstood the earthquake(2 Kobe Earthquake).

The Majority of damage from an earthquake occurs during the secondary effects. The effects are not directly caused by fault movement, but result form the propagation of seismic waves away from the fault rupture. These effects may include, seismic shaking, landslides, liquefaction, fires, fissuring, settlement, and aftershocks  (Earthquake Effects).  In the case of Kobe, liquefaction occurred due to the abundant water-saturated soil and as the ground began to shake contact and friction was lost with the other grains resulting in soil to flow apart moving the ground 7 inches horizontally and 4 inches vertically . The result of the liquefaction was over thousands of buildings collapsing because they were not able to withstand the intensity (Kobe). The transportation ways of the city were utterly destroyed. The cities of Kobe and Osaka are connected by a highway which collapsed as a result of the earthquake. All three major railways were destroyed and roads were elevated off the ground. The utilities within the city came to a halt. The water and gas had run out and cables were exposed on the ground. The igniting of over 300 fires around the city were cause by  ruptured gas lines and the response to these fires were hindered by the lack of water supply and the destruction to the transportation system (Kobe Earthquake).

Pictures around the city showing damages after the earthquake

Measurements:

Instead of the Richter scale the Japan Meteorological Agency seismic intensity scale is used to measure the strength of earthquakes instead of the magnitude. The scale describes the degree of shaking at a point on the Earth's surface. This results in a variance of measurements from place to place (Japan Meteorological Agency Seismic Intensity Scale). The JMA consists of a network of 180 seismographs and 600 seismic intensity meters providing real time reports to the media and the Internet. The scale runs form 0 to 7, 7 being the most severe. The JMA reports earthquakes based on ground acceleration, which is written in the metric units of meters per second.

                                                                                                                                                          (Japan Meteorological Agency Seismic Intensity Scale)