The Kobe earthquake.

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Leticia Powlett        9Ward2        Mr Sutherland

This project is on the Kobe earthquake. This quake scaled 7.2 on the Richter scale (6-7 on the Japanese scale). The earthquakes epicentre was at the northern Awaji Island and had a depth of 14km. Its total deaths by the 30th of March were 5,477 and injuries 34,900. The earthquake had caused fires that destroyed 7,456 houses, road damage, 171,481 collapsed houses, and a total damage cost of 9,963 yen.

In this project there is a graph showing the number of deaths over a period of days on page 2. It shows the increase of the deaths as the days went on.

On page 3, the increase of the deaths is described and explained. It shows of reasons why there would be an increase in deaths.

On page 4, the effect on the economy is explain and the reasons why are stated.

On page 5, a letter written after the quake is enclosed, explain what had and has happened.

As the days went on there was an increase in the number of deaths. This was because as the days went on more people died. The increase between the 17th and the 21st of January was a rapid increase from 1247-4412 with a difference of 3165 people. This was within 4 days which the average per day is about 1100 people. The increase between the 21st and the 18th of feburary was not as rapid. From 4412 it rose to a number of 5390 with a difference of 978. The increased really slowed down between the 30th and 18th of February, we can tell this because the graph is steeper.

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The deaths increased as the days went on because:

  • The emergency services could of taken long to find all the people.
  • People died later from injuries
  • Between the 17th and 21st the majority of bodies were found later after the earthquake. It became harder to find the bodies which is why between the 21st and 18th of February, there were less bodies found.
  • The roads were damage so it stopped emergency services from arriving quicker
  • Services had to wait for the fires to be put out before they could do their job and find the remaining people or bodies, ...

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