Global report on human settlements 2007, disaster at a glance: A tale of two cities, economic impacts of the Kobe and Marmara earthquakes

The impact of disaster also depends on the levels of development and disaster preparedness of individual cities. This is evident when comparing the contrasting cases of Kobe, Japan (hit by a 7.2 Richter magnitude earthquake in 1995) and Marmara, Turkey (hit by a 7.4 Richter magnitude earthquake in 1999). The Kobe (or Great Hanshin) earthquake was amongst the worst disasters to have befallen modern Japan, as it claimed 6,433 lives. The Marmara earthquake was similarly catastrophic, but with 18,000 lives lost, was three times as deadly as the Kobe earthquake.