Two Earthquakes

January 17th is the anniversary of two significant earthquakes. And they occurred just one year apart.

On Monday, January 17, 1994, the quiet of a California morning was broken by a major shaking at 4:30 a.m. Pacific Time. The earthquake, which measured 6.7 on the Richter Scale, was initially reported to be centered near Northridge in the San Fernando Valley. It actually was closer to nearby Resada. It was only a moderate earthquake, in terms of intensity. But it would become one of the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history, rivaling Hurricane Andrew’s $30 billion price tag. Its proximity to Los Angeles (the epicenter was twenty miles northwest of L.A.) guaranteed that. The death toll: fifty seven people. Over 1,500 people were injured. The death toll was minimized because the earthquake struck so early in the morning.
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Parts of I-10 and I-5 collapsed. Reconstruction of the freeways took place in record time under the guarantee of heavy financial incentives. I-10 (the Santa Monica Freeway) opened in April, some seventy days ahead of schedule. I-5 (the Golden State Freeway) opened in May. Southern Californians actually embraced mass transit, and CalTrans trains have flourished in the wake of the disaster.

Exactly one year later, on January 17, 1995, the Great Hanshin Earthquake struck Kobe, Japan, a city of 1.5 million people. It is also known as the Kobe Earthquake, and as the South Hyogo Earthquake. It also struck during the early morning hours, at 5:46 a.m. It registered 7.3 on the Richter Scale. The earthquake claimed 6,433 lives, mainly in the city of Kobe. Over 13,000 people were injured. Damage totaled an astounding $100 million US dollars. It was the worst earthquake to strike Japan since a 1923 killed 140,000 people.