Former students reflect on the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake that occurred 30 years ago

As the 30th anniversary of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake approaches, a dialogue session titled “The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake as Seen by First-Year Engineering Students” was held on December 11 at the College of Engineering at Kobe University. Participating in the event were Professor Kondo Tamio of the Urban Safety and Security Research Center who was a student at the time of the earthquake, and Sumida Koichi, now a professor at Osaka University of the Arts, a graduate of the Business School and a former NHK anchor. The event was organized by the Kobe University News Network Committee, a student group that continues to cover earthquake-related topics, with support from the Kobe University Alumni Association and the Kobe University Technology Promotion Club (KTC). It was held in conjunction with a public recording of NHK's “Midnight Express Radio”, attracting students from inside and outside the university who listened intently to their ideas.

Professor Kondo Tamio of Kobe University's Urban Safety and Security Research Center (right) participates in a dialogue session with Professor Sumida Koichi, a Kobe University graduate of the Faculty of Engineering who is now a professor at Osaka University of the Arts.

The session aimed to give current students an opportunity to learn about the earthquake through the perspectives of those who lived through it, share student insights at the time, and inspire thinking about how to address future disasters.

Kondo was a first-year student in the Department of Architecture at Kobe University's College of Engineering when the earthquake occurred in 1995. She usually lives alone in Kobe, and she happened to be at her parents' house in Shiga Prefecture, bedridden by the earthquake. Influenza, January 17, disaster day. She first returned to the university at the end of January for a meeting about classes and other matters.

“From the train window, I saw collapsed houses with their cross-section exposed and their interior furnishings exposed. I was shocked by the extent of the devastation. It was hard to believe that something like this could happen. She said: “I don't remember any sounds. My impressions of the scene were in silence.”

After the earthquake, researchers and students from all over Japan conducted a survey on the damage to buildings, and Kondo was invited by one of his classmates to join. She shared her experience of being torn about participating, only to ultimately decide not to join. “My parents told me they were glad I wasn’t in Kobe at the time, but the main reason I didn’t join Kobe was fear – I was terrified of the destruction,” she said. “I was also afraid of not knowing when aftershocks might happen. But looking back now, I regret not going.

Kondo shares her experiences since the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake.

She enrolled in graduate studies because she developed an interest in the role of consultants and other professionals who act as a bridge between citizens and government during the reconstruction and urban planning process. One of the activities she participated in during her graduate studies was the “Victim Interview Survey” led by Professor Murosaki Yoshiteru (now Professor Emeritus). This was not a research project, but rather an effort to interview bereaved families and document the circumstances of the victims' deaths, the layouts of the homes, and the thoughts and feelings of the families.

Regarding her motivations for participating, Kondo said, “I think it was necessary to understand the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake to see how architecture, intended to protect lives, instead caused loss of lives.” Some of the families she visited were families of Kobe University students who had died.

“One mother told us that she wished she had provided her child with a more stable home. I realized that I, a fellow college student, could have died too, and I felt deeply the family’s desire to preserve the record of their loss for posterity. Looking back, perhaps they would have opened up We have to because we were students like their children.

While listening to Kondo's experiences, Sumida also shared his own thoughts and stories about his time as a journalist. Sumida, a Kobe University graduate and former NHK broadcaster who covered disaster areas, spoke of the shock he felt in the quake's aftermath. “In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, I was shocked to learn that as many as 39 students from Kobe University had died,” he recalls. He also showed photos of black smoke above Kobe's Nada Pavilion and the charred remains of student housing destroyed by fire.

“One of the students who died was trapped under the rubble of his collapsed house. His friends brought him bottles of water while he was being buried, but as the fire spread they were unable to save him. “I heard his friends screaming in pain.”

“I cannot describe the pain of searching for my child's remains with my own hands as a parent,” Sumida said a grieving father once told him. He added: “Even after 30 years, there is still much that we do not fully understand about the disaster. Countless events occurred at each site, and no one has documented or studied them all.”

Sumida listens to the crowd at the venue.

During the session, Kondo also shared her work in community development with local youth in areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, along with her research on residential environments and community reconstruction. “Every academic field can play a role in promoting safe urban development, preventing human casualties, and aiding disaster recovery,” she told the audience. “As long as you are studying in Kobe, the city that witnessed the earthquake, I hope you will think about what you can contribute through your field of study.” “I also encourage you to visit as many places as possible in Kobe to see the highlights of the city’s reconstruction journey,” she said.

Seminar participants gave a variety of comments such as, “I learned about aspects of disaster that were not on TV news,” “I realized I could help with disaster recovery through my law degree,” and “I saw how safety can help Disaster recovery through my law studies.” Technology is often present but not fully integrated into society.

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