30 years after the Great Hanshin Earthquake: Preparedness efforts intensified with memories in mind

Editorial

15:37 Japan time, 17 January 2025

The Japanese archipelago is constantly threatened by major earthquakes. It is important to make comprehensive preparations without letting the memory of the disaster that claimed 6,434 lives fade.

Thirty years have passed since the Great Hanshin Earthquake. The earthquake, whose epicenter was directly under a large city, registered 7 degrees, the highest on the Japanese earthquake intensity scale. High-rise buildings and highways collapsed, and urban areas turned into burned fields filled with rubble.

Looking at today's skyscraper-lined cityscapes, it is hard to imagine the scenes of those days that shook the foundations of the “myth of safety” in postwar Japan.

In October last year, the last remaining redevelopment project covering about 20 hectares in the Nagata neighborhood of Kobe City was finally completed.

Shopkeepers and others have left while negotiations on land deals have stalled, and some commercial plots remain unsold. The decision on the mega project was made by the local government leadership two months after the earthquake. But the project was unable to respond to the changes in economic conditions that coincided with the long period of stagnation known as the “lost thirty years,” and the expected vitality was no longer there.

Didn't the project lack flexibility and attention to detail? It can be said that the project left a lesson for the ongoing urban reconstruction in various areas affected by major disasters.

Although the Great Hanshin Earthquake has served as the foundation for the preparations made by the central and local governments, such as establishing a crisis management system and seismic strengthening of buildings, there are still many unresolved issues.

One such issue is disaster-related mortality, which occurs when disaster victims die due to exacerbation of chronic diseases or other causes under poor evacuation conditions.

Disaster-related deaths were first identified in the Great Hanshin Earthquake, and 921 such deaths were included in the disaster's total death toll. A lesson was learned from the many affected people who were sleeping together on the floor of evacuation centers at the time. Basic amenities such as cardboard beds and portable toilets became common.

However, in last year's Noto Peninsula earthquake, scenes similar to those of 30 years ago were seen again, mainly due to the lack of a system for accepting supplies at evacuation centres.

It is necessary for central and local governments to strengthen the storage of goods and develop specialized personnel in the private sector during normal times.

Regarding the earthquake with its epicenter in the Hyuganada Sea on January 13, the Japan Meteorological Agency on that day issued an advisory report on additional information on the Nankai area earthquake with the keyword under analysis. The JMA concluded that the risk of such an earthquake in the Nankai Trough has not increased, but people should remain alert.

Over time, the worry is that memories of the disaster will fade. For people to think about making preparations their own business, it is necessary to support efforts to transfer the experiences of the past 30 years and pass them on to future generations.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba proposed establishing a disaster prevention agency in fiscal year 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 the control of various efforts after a major disaster strikes. But is it necessary to create a new government agency for this purpose? Instead of prioritizing the creation of a new organization from the beginning, the discussion should be deepened after first making efforts to strengthen these measures.

(From the Yomiuri Shimbun, January 17, 2025)

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