30 Years after Great Hanshin Earthquake: Step up Preparation Efforts with Memories in Mind
15:37 JST, January 17, 2025
The Japanese archipelago is constantly threatened by major earthquakes. It is important to make thorough preparations without letting the memory of the disaster that claimed 6,434 lives fade away.
Thirty years have passed since the Great Hanshin Earthquake. The earthquake, which had a focus directly under a large city, recorded 7 — the highest on the Japanese seismic intensity scale. High-rise buildings and expressways collapsed, and urban areas turned into rubble-strewn, burned fields.
By looking at today’s townscapes lined with skyscrapers, it is probably difficult to imagine the scenes of those days that shook the very foundation of the “safety myth” of postwar Japan.
In October last year, the last remaining redevelopment project covering about 20 hectares in Nagata Ward, Kobe, was finally completed.
Store owners and others have moved out while negotiations on land transactions have been stalled, and some commercial plots are still unsold. The massive project was decided on by the leadership of the local government two months after the earthquake. However, the project was not able to respond to the changes in economic conditions that coincided with the long period of stagnation known as the “lost 30 years,” and the expected vitality did not return there.
Did the project not lack flexibility and attention to detail? It can be said that the project has left a lesson for the urban reconstruction that is ongoing in various areas hit by large disasters.
Although the Great Hanshin Earthquake served as a basis for preparations made by the central and local governments, such as establishing a crisis management system and promoting the seismic reinforcement of buildings, there are still many issues that have been left unresolved.
One such issue is disaster-related deaths, which occur when disaster victims die from worsening chronic illnesses or other causes under poor evacuation conditions.
Disaster-related deaths were first recognized in the Great Hanshin Earthquake, and 921 such deaths were included in the total death toll of the disaster. A lesson was learned from many affected people sleeping together on the floor of evacuation centers at that time. Such basic amenities as cardboard beds and portable toilets have become common.
However, in last year’s Noto Peninsula Earthquake, similar scenes to those 30 years ago were seen again, mainly due to the lack of a system to accept supplies at evacuation centers.
It is essential for the central and local governments to promote the stockpiling of goods and develop specialized private-sector personnel during normal times.
Regarding an earthquake that had a focus in the Hyuganada Sea on Jan. 13, the Japan Meteorological Agency issued on the day a Nankai Trough Earthquake Extra Information advisory with the keyword Under Analysis. The JMA concluded that the risk of such a Nankai Trough earthquake had not increased, but people must stay alert.
As time goes by, the concern is that memories of the disaster will fade. To have people think of making preparations as one’s own affairs, it is necessary to support the efforts to convey the experiences of 30 years ago and pass it on to future generations.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has proposed creating a disaster prevention agency in fiscal 2026.
It is the responsibility of the central government to provide seamless responses ranging from disaster prevention and mitigation in advance to post-disaster reconstruction, not to mention to take control of various efforts after a major disaster. However, is a new government agency necessary for that purpose? Rather than prioritizing the creation of a new organization from the start, the discussion should be deepened after first making efforts to step up these measures.
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Jan. 17, 2025)
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