At dawn on January 17， 1995， the city of Kobe was rocked by earthquake tremors. The worst tremors reach 7.2 on the Richter scale. Kobe is Japan's sixth largest city. It is also one of the world's largest ports. Within minutes， Kobe was a disaster area.　　How bad was the damage？ The earthquake was the worst to hit Japan in 72 years. There were more than 6，000 people dead. More than 35，000 were injured， and nearly 310，000 were left homeless. Some 75，000 buildings were damaged or destroyed. Total damage was estimated at $90 billion.　　Were the Japanese prepared for earthquakes？ They thought they were. They were expecting a big earthquake to strike one of their major cities. But they did not know when， where， or how big the earthquake would be. Architects and engineers believed they had designed earthquake-proof buildings， transportation， and public services. Kobe's few minutes of earth tremors shattered that belief.　　What did people learn from the Kobe earthquake？ What happened in Kobe suggests that earthquake hazard was not taken seriously enough. Some people believe that more can be done to reduce damage. They propose the following. More work should be put into quake-proofing buildings. Walls should be built to protect towns on the coast from large waves. Providers of emergency services must be better trained and better prepared. Citizens must be better educated on what to do when an earthquake strikes.　　The major barrier to doing more is cost. Japan finds itself trying balance the cost against the risk of a strong earthquake.