Page 251 - Berkshire Encyclopedia Of World History Vol Two

600 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

What quarrel, what harshness, what unbelief in each other can subsist in the presence
of a great calamity, when all the artificial vesture of our life is gone, and we are all
one with each other in primitive mortal needs? • George Eliot (1819–1880)

a measure of the amount of energy released. One com- and sewers and water mains were broken. Unfortu-
mon type of magnitude measurement is the Richter nately, one pipeline that carried water from San Andreas
scale, named after the U.S. seismologist Charles Francis Lake to San Francisco was also broken, closing the
Richter (1900–1985). The Richter scale (0–9) is loga- water supply to the city. For this reason it was impossi-
rithmic. This means that the seismic energy of a magni- ble to control the fires that ignited soon after the earth-
tude 7 earthquake is a thousand times greater than that quake occurred and subsequently they destroyed a large
of a magnitude 5 earthquake. part of San Francisco.
On 19 April 1906, the day after the earthquake, the For the surviving refugees, the first few weeks were
New York press wrote: “Heart of San Francisco in hard: although aid poured in from around the country,
ruins; earthquake and fire kill hundreds; property loss thousands slept in tents in city parks. However, numer-
$100,000,000 and growing.... Enormous property ous businesses relocated temporarily in Oakland and
loss in many cities and towns, and Santa Rosa and many refugees found lodgings outside the city. Recon-
Berkeley burst into flames at night—authorities fear that struction of the city proceeded but it was not until 1908
when full truth is known an appalling disaster will be that San Francisco was well on the way to recovery.
found to have swept that entire section of State—loss of
live everywhere. 17 January 1995 Hanshin-Awaji,
“Terrific early morning shock demolishes most of the Kobe, Japan, Earthquake
business section of Golden Gate City, and flames close On 17 January 1995, the Great Hanshin-Awaji earth-
behind. Sweep practically unchecked through day and quake with magnitude 6.9 occurred directly under the
night, lack of water making fire-fighters powerless.” modern industrialized urban area of Kobe. The shock
The damaged region extended over a distance of 600 occurred at a shallow depth on a fault running from
square kilometers. The earthquake was felt in most of Awaji Island through the city of Kobe, which in itself had
California and parts of western Nevada and southern a population of about 1.5 million. Strong ground shak-
Oregon. The earthquake caused the longest rupture of ing lasted for about twenty seconds and caused severe
a fault that has been observed in the contiguous United damage over a large area.At best the urban facilities were
States. The displacement of the San Andreas Fault was severely impaired, while others were completely
observed over a distance of 300 kilometers. The maxi- destroyed. More than 5,000 people were killed by the
mum intensity of XI was based on geologic effects. earthquake.Total damage and destruction is estimated at
(Commonly used intensity scales are the European more than $100 billion, or about 2 percent of the gross
Macroseismic Scale 1998 [EMS-98] in Europe and the national product of Japan.
Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale in the United States, More than 150,000 buildings were ruined; highways,
both with intensity ratings between 1 and 7. Japan uses bridges, railroads, and subways failed; water, sewage, gas,
the Omori Scale, with intensity ratings between 0 and electric power, and telephone systems were considerably
7. The damage distribution of an earthquake is visual- damaged and out of service for a period of time. The
ized on maps on which lines of equal intensity [iso- Hanshin Expressway, built in the 1960s primarily of rein-
seismals] on the earth’s surface are drawn.) forced concrete, was nearly destroyed over more than 20
The earthquake and resulting fires took toll of an esti- kilometers. Many spans of the almost completed Wangan
mated 3,000 lives and caused about $524 million in Expressway, which is largely composed of steel super-
property loss. The earthquake damaged buildings and structures, lost their bearing connections, damaging the
structures in all parts of the city and county of San Fran- superstructures and closing the route indefinitely.A num-
cisco. Brick and frame houses of ordinary construction ber of major bridges of very modern design were also
were damaged considerably or completely destroyed, severely damaged.