# data[].attributes.body
Now, scientists can't predict when an earthquake will happen. But, there are telltale signs that a major Earthquake is coming.
Some of these signs include changing groundwater levels, minor tremors, and changes in the height of the Earth. This buildup indicates that a major Earthquake may be coming. This buildup is common with most major earthquakes, including Kobe, in which there were four small tremors the day before the major quake occurred.

# data[].attributes.body
NYTimes.com
Youtube.com
Britanncia.com
google.com

# data[].attributes.body
The Richter Magnitude Scale, or the Richter Scale, is the most common way of measuring an Earthquake. It was invented in 1935 and is based off of the energy released in an Earthquake.
On the Richter Scale, the massive movements caused by the Earthquake rated the quake as a 7.2(more accurately, a 6.9). This means that the force of the quake could create enough energy to heat New York City for 1 year.
The Mercalli Scale, on the other hand, measures the Earthquake based off of the damage it does. On this scale,  the Kobe quake was rate a 9, which means considerable damage was done.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
USGS Earthquake Hazards Program, responsible for monitoring, reporting, and researching earthquakes and earthquake hazards

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Author: Peter Drysdale

The economic aftershocks of the earthquake and tsunami which struck Japan on Friday are only slightly less difficult to fathom than the scale of the human tragedy and physical devastation.

This massive event was bigger than the Great Hanshin quake that devastated Kobe in 1995. Its economic impact may be less severe. The 1995 earthquake ranked among the most economically costly of modern earthquake disasters. With a magnitude of 6.9 it struck directly under a large modern urban area, killing more than 6,500 people, knocking out communications, highways, railways, water and other essential infrastructure, destroying over 150,000 buildings and damaging 180,000 more, with over 600,000 made homeless. In terms of loss of life there have been many worse disasters in China, Russia and South Asia. But the damage to physical capital stock in Kobe was US$114 billion, 2.3 per cent of Japan's GDP and around 0.8 per cent of Japan's physical capital stock at the time - fully three times the recorded cost of any disaster in history.

Most observers at the time thought that it would take at least ten years to get Kobe back to working order. The economic hit was variously estimated at up to 10 per cent of Japanese GDP. Less than eighteen months later, in fact, manufacturing output in the Kobe region reached 98 per cent of pre-quake levels. Only a year later, exports were running at 85 per cent of pre-quake volumes. Two years after the quake, all debris had been removed - a colossal achievement - and all the infrastructure restored. The stock market took a dive (down 7.5 per cent in the days following Kobe; the futures index was down 2 per cent after Sendai) but GDP slowed only little and over the ensuing two years kicked up, in part because of Kobe's reconstruction and investment in modernisation.

Making the gruesome calculations for loss of human capital as well as physical capital, loss of capital stock in the Kobe quake is calculated to have been US$127 billion or a miniscule 0.08 per cent of all Japan' s physical and human assets at the time.

Post-quake Kobe was very different from Kobe before the quake. The city has been re-engineered, providing excellent urban infrastructure and greater insulation against future shocks. The lessons learned from Kobe about the risks from poor infrastructure engineering (highways, water, sewerage, transport and communications) have been steadily applied in the major conurbations across Japan. Visitors to Tokyo will have noticed the painstaking reinforcements being put in place to its highway system over the last 15 years - one reason it withstood Friday's violent shake so well.

These achievements are testimony to human resilience, but particular testimony to the resilience and capacity of the Japanese people - not only their remarkable capacity to face natural calamity stoically but the human capital, skills and organisational know-how they bring to dealing with it on a grand scale and with great efficiency.

This national character is on full display now.

At magnitude 8.9, the Sendai quake was 178 times bigger than Kobe. The 10-metre tsunami wreaked its independent, terrifying destruction. Trains, trucks, cars, boats, buildings and infrastructure were all swept away. It will be a miracle if the death toll is lower than Kobe's. This is not the Tokyo 'big one.' Tokyo also withstood a major buffeting but is already back in business.

The Sendai region is less important economically and industrially that Kobe, all up accounting for perhaps less than 2 per cent of Japanese GDP. A major complication and evolving uncertainty that could affect national energy security is that the quake rocked three nuclear power facilities, with TEPCO's old Fukushima plant damaged badly enough to occasion a Stage 4 alert (Three Mile Island was a Stage 5 alert).

The national government and Self Defence Forces have swung into action much more expeditiously than after Kobe (which occasioned a drawn-out constitutional debate about whether the SDF could be deployed for civil defence and resulted in reforms which strengthen the capacity of Japan's executive to respond to emergencies decisively). Both civilian and emergency services are displaying their remarkable effectiveness in coping with these disasters. International assistance has been forthcoming and accepted rapidly.

The immediate response of Prime Minister Kan and the national agencies to the crisis has diverted attention from the looming political meltdown of his DPJ government, and could restore some measure of confidence in national leadership that the country now so badly needs.
Peter Drysdale is Head of the East Asia Forum and East Asia Bureau of Economic Research in the Crawford School at the Australian National University. This essay has also been published in the Australian Financial Review, Monday, 14 March 2011.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
2011 following a massive earthquake and tsunami on march 11. japan

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
local residents carry a blue sheet to cover a dead body (right of silver car) in tagajo

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Japan's earthquake and its economic impact

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Author: Peter Drysdale The economic aftershocks of the earthquake and tsunami which struck Japan on Friday are only slightly less difficult to fathom than the scale of the human tragedy and physical devastation. This massive event was bigger than the Great Hanshin quake that devastated Kobe in 1995.

# data[].attributes.body
On January 17th, 1995, 40 miles away from Kobe, Japan, in the Akashi Straight, and 10 miles below the surface, the Earth shifted with the force of 240 kilotons of TNT. The Earth had moved anywhere from 6 to 10 feet away from the fault, and a 6.9 Earthquake raced toward the densely  populated area of the Hansin Region. Once it reached the area, at approximately 5:46 AM, complete devastation occurred.
During an earthquake, there are three different waves  that can cause damage, some more than others. These waves are:
- P waves: the waves are the fastest but the least destructive. They move by compressing and decompressing the rock relative to the way it travels.
- S waves: These waves are slower, but more destructive. They travel by moving the rock in right angles relative to the way the wave travels.
Surface(L)Waves: These waves are the most destructive, and move across the surface, moving the rock in an up and down motion relative to the way the wave travels.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Kobe Earthquake of 1995 Disasters Documentary

# data[].attributes.body
Many of the structures built in Kobe before the 1995 Earthquake was based off of the principle of brute strength, or when the Earthquake hit, the Structures were supposed to stand firm and strong, without any movement. However, the Americans at the time used flexible structures, allowing the building to sway and deform if necessary. When the earthquake hit Kobe in 1995, the brute strength structures became very brittle, and with enough movement, would snap.
Also, the houses in Kobe were made of wood wall and supports, with heavy tiled roofs. The roofs were built to withstand typhoons, but the heavy roofing caused the wood below it to collapse, bringing the whole house down. In fact, this collapsing caused 9 out of ten deaths in the Kobe quake.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Video: Jan. 17, 1995: Earthquake in Japan

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A massive earthquake in Kobe, Japan, devastates infrastructure and kills 6,000.

# data[].attributes.body
The epicenter is the point directly above the focus(on the surface) where the Earthquake begins. The focus is the actual point where the earthquake starts.
The epicenter can be found by finding the distance radius from three different seismic stations, and wherever they meet is where the Epicenter is. The process is called Triangulation.

# data[].attributes.body
The destruction of Kobe was immense. In the time of just 20 seconds, buildings were destroyed, houses demolished, and bridges were knocked down.
Part of the Hanshin Expressway, which links the cities of Kobe and Osaka, was knocked down. In this event alone, over 1,000 cars were destroyed and over 100 people died.
The quake had left over 300,000 people homeless, and killed up to 6,400.
The second largest port in Japan, the Port of Kobe, was built on man made islands. When the quake struck, the islands were made unstable, causing large cranes to fall into the ocean and most of the port itself to become underwater.
Most of the large building that the Japanese government had deemed "earthquake proof" were completely destroyed. Also, this destruction had caused water and gas lines to be ruptured, and since most of the structures in the city were made out of wood, fires raged around the city that couldn't be put out.