Damages to Steel Structures Caused by the 1995 Kobe Earthquake

The Kobe Earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.2 on the Richter scale, that struck at 5:46 in the morning of January 17, 1995, caused considerable and various types of damage in the Hanshin area around the cities of Kobe and Osaka in Japan. About 6,000 people died and about 300,000 buildings, many bridges, road and rail viaducts, port facilities and other structures were damaged. It appears that many lives were lost through the collapse of houses, and nearly 90% of these houses were composed of wood members. In recent earthquakes in Japan, the performance of steel structures has been fairly good due to steel's ductile properties. However, after the Kobe Earthquake, various new types of damage were found among steel structures.