The , or Kobe earthquake Catastrophe , occurred Presence on January 17 , 1995 at 05:46:53 JST ( January 16 at 20:46:53 UTC ) in the southern part of Hyōgo Prefecture , Japan , including the region known as Hanshin .

The focus of the earthquake Catastrophe was located 17 km beneath its epicenter , on the northern end of Awaji Island , 20 km away from the center of the city of Kobe .

Up to 6,434 people lost Earnings_and_losses their lives ; about 4,600 of them were from Kobe .

Among major cities , Kobe , with its population of 1.5 million , was the closest to the epicenter and hit Attack by the strongest tremors .