The , or
Kobe earthquake, occurred on January 17, 1995 at 05:46:53
JST (January 16 at 20:46:53
UTC) in the southern part of
Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. It measured 6.9 on the
moment magnitude scale and 7 on the
JMA Shindo intensity scale. The tremors lasted for approximately 20 seconds. The
focus of the earthquake was located 17 km beneath its
epicenter, on the northern end of
Awaji Island, 20 km away from the city of
Kobe.