Kobe Earthquake

homework

15th march 2007 kobe earthquake assessment

q1. who died? mrs. endo died as the roof of her house collapsed on top of her. it was made of concrete and most likely crushed her. she was still in bed when the quake struck and she couldn't react. she died after 36 hours of suffocating. her husband didn't die because he was visiting his son in a new part of town which has earthquakeproof homes. the endo's home wasn't earthquake-proof because it was built before 1981 (the first time these special homes were made).

q2. aid and response (+ services) many people who were not injured rushed to the areas where people were trapped and stuck. volounteers from all around dashed into these areas to offer their full support and used their bare hands to search for victims. in the end, this didn't help the qualified emergency services because the available transport routed were 'clogged' with traffic as people poured into the city. when fire engines got to the scene, they attempted to put the fires out. although lots were successfully put out, many weren't because fire engines ran out of water before they could put them all out. when people were saved they were sent to makeshift shelters with stockpiles of food, water and blankets. as people's homes were flattened, they had nothing. they had to go to these shelters for basic living resources. for people who didn't come to these shelters, they may have died due to lack of water or food.

q2. disease and illness lots of people got sick because of the gas explosions all over the city. people were exposed to harmful gases; such as fumes from the fires. people's open wounds may have been infected too if they weren't treated. as the clean water supply was destroyed, people resorted to unclean water to clean their remaining belongings and themselves. people caught illnesses this way. due to the high amount of people attending the makeshift shelters, flu and other illnesses were spread from person to person. beause this event happened in january, it wasn't very warm. lots of people caught cold and hypothermia. in the earthquake, several hospitals were destroyed. this made recieving aid or treatment harder as there was nowhere to give it! japan ahs a population density of about 310 per square kilometre. that shows us a rough figure of how many people could have possibly been hurt and are in need of treatment.

q2. black-out! throughout kobe, three important supplies were damaged and cut off. water pipes throughout the city burst as the earthquake cracked them. people began to

use unclean water. electricity was cut off in the city because cables and pylons fell. they may have even caused fires which didn't help the whole situation. people panicked without electricity because this also meant that communication was limited. nobody could get in touch with their friends or family to make sure they were alright. rescues were harder without electricity too. light would have been limited during the night. noone could see what they were doing.

q2. building structures only since 1981 have earthquake-buildings been built. this means that only a small number of buildings would have been able to withstand the blast. as the buildings fell, lots of people would have been crushed. many buildings have been built on 'reclaimed' land. this means it has been part of liquifaction. this land is unstable as the land is partly water. this makes it harder for buildings to remain upwards on it.

q2. what the goverment did what the goverment did was appauling. they didn't help the emergency services with supplies, or people with supplies. if the goverment put in more effort then more lives could have been saved. the goverment were critisised for their efforts. on the sheet, it says; "the japanese goverment... were greatly shocked by the death and disaster..." this report was brought to you by scott parker of woburn 2 (8p) ™