The , or Kobe earthquake, occurred on January 17, 1995 at 05:46:53 JST (January 16 at 20:46:53 UTC) in the southern part of Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. It measured 6.9 on the moment magnitude scale and 7 on the JMA Shindo intensity scale. The tremors lasted for approximately 20 seconds. The focus of the earthquake was located 17 km beneath its epicenter, on the northern end of Awaji Island, 20 km away from the city of Kobe.