On January 17, 1995, a major earthquake struck near Kobe, Japan, killing more than 6,000 and making more than 45,000 people homeless.
9 – 12+
Earth Science, Geology
On January 17, 1995, a major earthquake struck near the city of Kobe, Japan, killing more than 6,000 and making more than 45,000 people homeless. Japan is where four major tectonic plates—the Eurasian, Philippine, Pacific, and North American—meet and interact, making it one of the most geologically active regions on Earth. The Kobe quake was a result of an east-west strike-slip fault where the Eurasian and Philippine plates interact. The quake had a moment magnitude of 6.9 and cost more than $100 billion in damage. The Kobe government spent years constructing new facilities to attract back the 50,000 people who left after the quake.
The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited.
March 1, 2023
For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service. If you have questions about licensing content on this page, please contact ngimagecollection@natgeo.com for more information and to obtain a license. If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please contact your teacher. She or he will best know the preferred format. When you reach out to him or her, you will need the page title, URL, and the date you accessed the resource.
If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the corner of the media viewer. If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media.
Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service.
Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. You cannot download interactives.
National Geographic Headquarters
1145 17th Street NW
Washington, DC 20036
National Geographic Society is a 501 (c)(3) organization. © 1996 – 2023 National Geographic Society. All rights reserved.