The Great Hanshin earthquake, Japan : a report of the January 1995 earthquake in Kobe and the Osaka Bay area and an assessment of future insurance implications.

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On 17 January 1995, a 7.2 Richter magnitude earthquake centred near Kobe in Japan killed 5,300 people, destroyed 110,000 buildings and crippled the world's sixth largest port. Though ranked only 27th of Japan's earthquakes this century in terms of magnitude, it caused more deaths than all but the infamous Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. Most deaths in Kobe were due to collapse of older buildings on soft dry soil. Virtually all new buildings survived unscathed - a testament to modern Japanese earthquake engineering practice. Initial estimates put total property damage in excess of US$100 billion. However, due to statutory limits on earthquake cover in Japan and low take-up of earthquake insurance due to a relatively low earthquake incidence in the region, insured losses were initially expected to be only around US$5 billion. Deregulation of the country's insurance market in 1996 will clearly provide significant encouragement to the insurance industry to offer cover in greater depth