The Great Hanshin earthquake ( =Hanshin Awaji daishinsai= ), or Kobe earthquake as it is more commonly known overseas, was an earthquake in Japan that measured 7.2 on the Richter scale. It occurred on January 17, 1995 at 5:46:52 am in the southern part of Hyogo Prefecture and lasted for approximately 20 seconds. The epicenter of the earthquake was on the northern end of Awaji Island, 20 km away from the cosmopolitan city of Kobe with a population of 1.5 million.

A total of 6,433 people, mainly in Kobe, lost their lives. Additionally, it caused approximately ten trillion yen in damage, 2.5% of Japan's GDP at the time. It was the worst earthquake in Japan since the Great Kanto earthquake in 1923, which claimed 140,000 lives, and it is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the "costliest natural disaster to befall any one country," but it is expected that this earthquake will cede that title to Hurricane Katrina for the 2007 Guinness Book of Records.

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