Exactly 40 Years Ago in Niigata...
Tuesday, October 26, 2004 Posted: 04:12 PM JST
Exactly forty years ago a magnitude 7.4 earthquake hit Niigata and killed 26 people. On June 16, 1964 a powerful earthquake destroyed 3,018 houses and damaged 9,750. Some apartment buildings toppled over because of soil liquefaction and poor foundations.
Aerial view of leaning apartment houses in Niigata produced by soil liquefaction and the behavior of poor foundations. Most of the damage was caused by cracking and unequal settlement of the ground such as is shown here. About 1/3 of the city subsided by as much as 2 meters as a result of sand compaction. Photo Credit: National Geophysical Data Center
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