Kobe Earthquake
For just 20 seconds at 5.46 am local time on the 17th January 1995 a major earthquake occurred – its epicentre on the northern end of Awaji Island in Japan. The earthquake caused an immense amount of damage in the region - just 20 miles from the epicentre the major Japanese city of Kobe was hit and more than 4,600 people died.

The Guinness Book of Records lists it as the "costliest natural disaster to befall any one country" as it caused around 10 trillion yen or 200 billion US dollars' worth of damage. More than 200,000 buildings collapsed and a large section of the elevated highway between Kobe and Osaka was destroyed. In addition, more than 300 fires ignited within minutes of the earthquake, causing further damage.