ENGINEERING BRAINS CHALLENGED IN WAKE OF KOBE'S SEISMIC BRAWN

Abstract

The 7.2 magnitude earthquake that struck Kobe, Japan, just before dawn on January 17, 1995, should be a seismic wake up call to all urban officials in areas located near modest faults. This high degree of devastation has not been seen before and can be attributed to population density and age of structures. Preliminary damage estimates are reaching $400 billion and the cost in human life is over 5,000 dead and 26,500 injured. This article describes the devastation in terms of earthquake engineering and structural failure. Highway, rail, and Port of Kobe were crippled by the quake. A sidebar addresses the California Department of Transportation desire to gain information from the Kobe earthquake about retrofitting bridge foundations on soft soil. Many photos depict the vast damage.