PART I

INTRODUCTION

The 1964 Niigata earthquake struck at 13:01 local time on 16 June with a
magnitude of 7.5 or 7.6. The epicenter was on the continental shelf off the northwest
coast of Honshu, Japan in Niigata Prefecture, about 50 kilometers north of the city
of Niigata. The earthquake caused liquefaction over large parts of the city.

Earthquake waves cause water pressures to increase in the sediment and the sand
grains to lose contact with each other, leading the sediment to lose strength and
behave like a liquid. The soil can loose its ability to support structures, flow down
even very gentle slopes, and erupt to the ground surface to form sand boils. Many of
these phenomena are accompanied by settlement of the ground surface — usually in
uneven patterns that damage buildings, roads and pipelines.

The Niigata earthquake, together with the Alaska earthquake also of 1964,
brought liquefaction phenomena and their devastating effects to the attention of
engineers and seismologists. A remarkable ground failure occurred near the Shinano
river bank where the Kawagishi-cho apartment buildings suffered bearing capacity
failures and tilted severely (left). Despite the extreme tilting, the buildings themselves
suffered remarkably little structural damage.

Sand boils and ground fissures were observed at various sites in Niigata. Lateral
spreading caused the foundations of the Showa bridge to move laterally so much that
the simply supported spans became unseated and collapsed
 PART II

THE EARTHQUAKE

I. MAGNITUDE, LOCATION, AND TYPE

The Niigata earthquake of June 16, 1964 had a magnitude of 7.5 and caused
severe damage to many structures in Niigata. The destruction was observed to be
largely limited to buildings that were founded on top of loose, saturated soil deposits.
Even though about 2000 houses were totally destroyed, only 28 lives were lost. A
tsunami, triggered by movement of the sea floor associated with the fault rupture,
totally destroyed the port of Niigata.

The northwestern side of Honshu lies on the southeastern margin of the Sea of
Japan, an area of oceanic crust created by back-arc spreading from the late
Oligocene to middle Miocene. The extensional tectonics associated with the spreading
formed a series of N-S trending extensional faults and associated basins. Currently the
area is being deformed by contractional tectonics, causing inversion of these earlier
basins, forming anticlinal structures. The earthquake is thought to have occurred due
to reverse movement on one of these reactivated faults.

II. DAMAGES

There were 3,534 houses destroyed and a further 11,000 were damaged. This
level of damage is explained by the influence of poor sub-soil conditions. Most of the
lower part of the city of Niigata is built on recent deltaic deposits from
the Shinano and Agano rivers, mainly consisting of unconsolidated sand. Shaking
during the earthquake caused liquefaction with instantaneous compaction and
formation of many sand volcanoes. Maps of areas of subsidence and sand volcanoes
were found to match closely with old maps of the position of former river channels.
Subsidence of up to 140 cm was measured over wide areas associated with the
liquefaction. In one area of apartment buildings built on reclaimed land by the
Shinona River, most of the blocks became inclined, one of them being completely
overturned. This was despite relatively low levels of ground acceleration recorded
by strong motion accelerographs placed in one of these buildings.

Niigata City, which had just recovered from the Great Niigata Fire of 1955,
sustained considerable damage from fire and liquefaction that resulted from the
earthquake. Aside from the buildings destroyed by liquefaction on the left bank of
the Shinano River there was also extensive damage on the right bank. The runway of
the Niigata Airport was near the hypocenter and was flooded due to liquefaction and
the tsunami and a fire broke out inside the airport. Most devastatingly, the pipes of a
gasoline tank owned by Showa Shell Sekiyu, located between the airport and the
harbor, were also damaged by the shaking. Gasoline from the tank was brought to the
sea surface by the tsunami and underground water released by the liquefaction and
ignited 5 hours after the earthquake. The fire spread to nearby tanks and induced
explosions that fed the fire, allowing it to continue for 12 days. The fire spread to
nearby residential areas leaving 1407 people displaced. This fire is said to be the
worst industrial complex fire in the country's history. At the time the cause of the fire
was said to be caused by the liquefaction, but later research into large earthquakes
revealed that long period ground motion also played a role.
At the time of the fire, the new specially-designed fire truck for fighting chemical
fires had not yet been deployed to Niigata City. A request was sent to the Fire and
Disaster Management Agency and troops were dispatched from the Tokyo division.
There was a danger of the fire spreading to an attached oxygen tank, but the troops
from Tokyo managed to stop it from spreading to the tank, after a 20 h battle.

III. SOCIAL IMPACT/PERCEPTION

Due to urbanization and modernization in Niigata City and the surrounding area,
in order to extract water-soluble natural gas in the ground water, water pumping
quickly increased in 1950. As a result, land subsidence became a serious problem.
Since 1959, thanks to restrictions on the extractions of natural gas and ground water
in the Niigata city area, large scale land subsidence has lessened. However, in that
period the ground was observed to settle an average of 20 cm a year. This land
subsidence, the liquefaction in the inner city, and the tsunami all contributed to the
massive inundation damage during the earthquake.

The Bandai Bridge, one of the commuter bridges spanning the Shinano River in
the city, survived the earthquake intact, but not unscathed. The streets that cross under
the bridge on each side and run parallel to the river are approximately 1 meter
different in elevation. The bridge itself only sank about 10 cm during the earthquake
but coupled with the aforementioned land subsidence it has sunk a total of 1.2 meters.
New laws concerning earthquake insurance were enacted in June 1966 in
response to this earthquake.

IV. REBUILD EFFORTS

A memorial service was held Sunday in Niigata Prefecture to mark the 10th
anniversary of the deadly earthquake that killed 15 people and left more than 2,300
injured in the region that hosts the world’s largest nuclear power plant.

At the ceremony, jointly hosted by the prefecture, the city of Kashiwazaki and
the village of Kariwa, residents and family members of the deceased observed a
moment of silence at 10:13 a.m., the time when the quake struck. The quake, which
originated in the Sea of Japan and had a magnitude of 6.8, injured 2,346 people in
Niigata and adjacent Nagano and Toyama prefectures, some seriously. It also damaged
about 44,000 houses and forced 12,000 people to evacuate.

“We have kept moving toward reconstruction with the spirit of mutual support,”
said Kashiwazaki Mayor Masahiro Sakurai. “I am utterly committed to making an
attractive hometown.” Niigata Gov. Ryuichi Yoneyama said, “It is our responsibility to
broadly transmit and hand down our experiences and lessons, as large-scale
earthquakes are repeatedly occurring nationwide.”

The July 16 quake caused the four active reactors at the plant, which was just 16
km from the quake’s epicenter, into emergency shutdowns. The rest were not operating
at the time. The plant, which leaked a small amount of radioactive water into the Sea of
Japan after a transformer caught fire as a result of the quake, was shut down for nearly
two years after experts found it had not been designed to withstand quakes that
powerful.
 PART III
IMPACT TO STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING

I. STRUCTURES WITH SEVERE DAMAGES

 The Showa bridge had a total length was 307m with main girder spans of 28m.
Each span was composed of 12 composite girders, making the bridge about 24m wide,
and was supported on nine 600mm diameter steel piles (in a single line) of wall
thickness of 9 to 16mm.

Collapse of Showa Bridge during the 1964 Niigata earthquake has been, over
many years, an iconic case study for demonstrating the devastating effects of
liquefaction. Inertial forces during the initial shock (within the first 7 s of the ground
shaking) or lateral spreading of the surrounding ground (which started at 83 s after the
start of the shaking) cannot explain the failure of Showa Bridge as the bridge failed at
about 70 s following the main shock and before the lateral spreading of the ground
started. In this study, quantitative analysis is carried out for various failure
mechanisms that may have contributed to the failure. The study shows that at about
70 s after the onset of the earthquake shaking, the increased natural period of the
bridge (due to the elongation of unsupported length of the pile caused by soil
liquefaction) tuned with the period of the liquefied ground causing resonance between
the bridge and the ground motion. This tuning effect (resonance) caused excessive
deflection at the pile head, resulting in unseating of the bridge deck from the
supporting pier and thereby initiating the collapse of the bridge.
II. STRUCTURAL CODE REVISIONS

It was found out from the results of earthquake response analysis that earthquake
forces, which act on buildings during severe earthquake motion, are much larger than
the value specified by the Building Standard Law. It was also found out the fact that
most buildings did not collapse by severe earthquake motions because buildings have
over-strength and ductility which are not considered in the calculations.

The 1963 Niigata Earthquake caused severed damage with sinking and tilting
buildings, because of liquefaction of saturated sandy soil. Then, the Building Standard
Law Enforcement Order was revised and shear reinforcement of reinfored concrete
columns was strengthened. Incidentally, the effectiveness of this revision was proven
in the 1996 Hyogo-ken-nanbu Earthquake.
 PART IV
CONCLUSION

Earthquakes shake the ground surface, can cause buildings to collapse, disrupt
transport and services, and can cause fires. They can trigger landslides and tsunami.
Earthquakes occur mainly as a result of plate tectonics, which involves blocks of
the Earth moving about the Earth's surface. The blocks of rock move past each other
along a fault. Smaller earthquakes, called foreshocks, may precede the main
earthquake, and aftershocks may occur after the main earthquake. Earthquakes are
mainly confined to specific areas of the Earth known as seismic zones, which coincide
mainly with ocean trenches, mid-ocean ridges, and mountain ranges.
The point of origin of an earthquake is called the focus. The epicentre is the point
on the Earth's surface directly above the focus. Most earthquake foci are within a few
tens of kilometres of the Earth's surface. Earthquakes less than 70 km deep are
classified as shallow-focus. Intermediate-focus earthquakes are 70-300 km deep, and
deep-focus earthquakes more than 300 km deep. Shallow-focus earthquakes occur in
all of the Earth's seismic zones, but intermediate- and deep-focus earthquakes are
almost exclusively associated with seismic zones near ocean trenches.
The Niigata earthquake of June 16, 1964 had a magnitude of 7.5 and caused
severe damage to many structures in Niigata. The destruction was observed to be
largely limited to buildings that were founded on top of loose, saturated soil deposits.
But even after the disaster of that magnitude, the world goes on as always.
However, livelihood in Japan will not be the same. The earthquake, tsunami, nuclear
accident and radioactive contamination have forced to change the way of our
thinking.