6.6 Damage to Electrical Utilities and Phone Lines
Compared to the damage experienced by the water and gas delivery systems, the damage to electrical lines and phone lines had a much lesser impact. While collapsed concrete overhead utility poles were apparent in a number of locations, in general, phone and electricity were restored in a very short period of time to most of the damaged area. Even in the areas of extreme liquefaction and lateral spreading, electricity and phones were generally functioning within a few days of the earthquake, although water, gas, and sewer services were not available. This pattern of damage seems to suggest that underground electrical conduits tend to perform better, although isolated breaks in high voltage conduits did occur, such as shown in Figures 6.23 and 6.24.
Figure 6.23: Rupture of 6 KV electric cable conduit in Kobe City. (Dr. T. Holzer in photo).
Figure 6.24: Rupture of electric conduit caused by seawall deformation adjacent to north side of Kobe Port Island Bridge.