Abstract
Japan is subjected to frequent seismic activity. On January 17, 1995, the 1995 Hyogo-ken Nanbu Earthquake hit the Hanshin-Awaji region, a heavily populated area in western Japan. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) reported that the magnitude was 7.2 and the epicenter was 16km underneath this region. About 6300 people died, and more than 150, 000 buildings were destroyed in and around the area with seismic intensity of VII, which is the highest level on the JMA scale. Reports on this earthquake disaster are extensive, such as the 10-volumes for building series edited by the Architectural Institute of Japan (AIJ) and the 12-volumes for civil engineering series edited by the Japan Society of Civil Engineering (JSCE), both series in Japanese. Here, based on these series edited by AIJ and JSCE, we give an overview of this earthquake, the related geological settlings, geotechnical conditions, strong ground motions, damage statistics, and structural damage to buildings, to infrastructures, to lifelines, and to other facilities such as associated mechanical equipment, elevators, and emergency power supply. Then, we report earthquake mitigation measures proposed by AIJ and JSCE based on lessons learned from this 1995 earthquake.
