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Information regarding the Kobe earthquake from a student
From: David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>
Date: Wed, 1 Feb 1995 06:56:39 -0500
From: "Joel Weise" <joel () sisf mino osaka jp> Charlie Stevenson <mendosan () aol com> recommended posting the following information to your list. I'm currently living in Osaka, one city away from the epicenter, and sent out a report about a week ago on the status of life here. Most of you have probably seen the extent of the damage on TV but here is a little more info. Immediately following the earthquake at 5:46 a.m. which rated a 7.2 on the Richter Scale, the phone lines in the Kansai area became choked up. Surprisingly enough, Tokyo's lines also choked up for no apparent reason. The week following the quake, all of the international schools in the area were closed due to the fact that the main lines of public transportation into the Kobe and Takarazuka areas were severely damaged. Osaka International School opened two Mondays ago with regular hours, Canadian Academy opened last monday with a shortended day schedule, and Marist Brothers is scheduled to open sometime in mid-February, at best. Canadian Academy gave their teachers the option of six months pay, round trip ticket to the states, and a guaranteed job for next year but 70% of the teaching staff has chosen to stay in Japan. Regarding the train system in Kobe, Takarazuka, and Itami, the train systems are expected to be running normally in about two years. This is for the JR, Hanshin, and Hankyu Railways. The Shinkansen (Japan's Bullet Train) is expected to be running normally in about 2 and a half months. Currently, the Shinkansen isn't running between Shin-Osaka and Himeiji. At the time, the Shinkansen wasn't in the area, but if it had been there could have been many more deaths. Current death toll is 5,069. Injured: 27,000+. Missing:19. Houses damaged: 70,000+. Houses without water: 420,000+. Houses without gas: 800,000+. Homeless: 300,000+. Utilities aren't expected to be completely available until about early to mid-march. On the Japanese scale of earthquake rating (0-7), officials originally had the earthquake rated as a six but revised their readings to a 7. The scale is one based on the extent of damage. A seven, is damage to 30% or more of the structures. Officials have said that this earthquake has not only been the strongest earthquake in an unrban area, but the strongest which Japan has ever had. Officials have also said that this earthquake a once every 1000 year occurence to this area. The weekend following the earthquake, I went in with the Osaka YWCA to help get supplies into Kobe. The problem with the rescue efforts made by the city is that there is no organized group to coordinate distribution of supplies. Everyday, Kobe city would drop off supplies in the morning to relief centers but it wasn't necessarily stuff which was needed. The Tokyo government has also shown poor leadership with this disaster. Though the SDF (Self Defense Forces) has been sent in to Kobe and Takarazuka, all that they have been doing is patrolling the streets. The US military has capabilities to set up field kitchens within 24 hours of a disaster that can feed thousands of people but none of that type of action has been seen here. Ironically, instead of the government leading relief efforts, they have been relying heavily on the NGO's to do the relief effort. Some problems which need to be solved: NGO's need funding Poorer areas in Kobe will not be able to afford rebuilding costs If you are interested in contributing to the effort I can get more information to you regarding groups taking donations. Joel Wiese Osaka International School Student -- Joel Weise joel () sisf mino osaka jp
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- Information regarding the Kobe earthquake from a student David Farber (Feb 01)