Tectonic activity
Kobe Earthquake/urban area/MEDC
Date
17th Jan 1995 5.45am when people asleep
Place
Kobe, Island of Honshu, Japan
Plates
Eurasian/Philippine plates Destructive boundary
Strength
Richter scale 6.9
Primary effects
 Soft rocks along coast liquefied intensifying the effect
 Landslides and aftershocks
 Port destroyed
 Over 100,000 houses collapsed
 5,500 died
 Roads and railways collapsed or were damaged
 Electricity, gas and sewage systems were cut resulting in lack of
water and electricity for several weeks in places
 Services, schools, shops, businesses and industry were destroyed
 300,000 homeless refugees
 Serious fires
Secondary effects

People in makeshift camps became ill in cold weather and poor
conditions
 Shock and stress
 Rebuilding homes over many years
 High costs of rebuilding
Despite sophisticated monitoring equipment elsewhere in Japan, Japanese government was
criticised for slow response to Kobe earthquake. They have since criss-crossed this area with
monitoring equipment
Mexico City Earthquake/urban area/LEDC
Date
19th Sept 1985
Place
Mexico City, Mexico
Plates
Pacific plate/North American plate- Destructive boundary
Strength
Richter scale 8.1
Primary effects
 10,000 died
 100,000+ left homeless
 500 buildings demolished
 Soft lake bed rocks liquefied and intensified the tremors
Secondary effects


Tsunamis caused along the coast
3-4 billion dollars of damage had been done and an extensive
rebuilding scheme was necessary
 aftershocks
Earthquake proved that many buildings had not been built to earthquake proof standard. Since then
major changes have been made to the building regulations and now standards are much higher