Outline of the Survey Program for the Survey of
the Building Damages and Its Related Injuries in
the Great Hanshin (Kobe) Earthquake
1. Objectives of the Survey
1-1.To collect statistical information on the building damages and its related
injuries/deaths in the Great Hanshin(Hanshin-Awaji) Earthquake occurred
on 17th January, 1995.
1-2.To provide comparable building damages and human injury information
which can be used in a comparative analysis with the similar data in the
United States of America.
2. Selection of the samples and its size
2-1.Sample households to be surveyed in the Earthquake disaster area were
selected intentionally in the parts of Takarazuka City, Kawanishi City
and Nishinomiya City.
2-2.Number of sample households selected and surveyed was 120 households
and those households had 277 residents.
3. Survey items
3-1.Fundamental items, such as sex, age of residents
3-2.Place where the residents were when the quake happened
3-3.Building structure and its damages
3-4.Behavior of the residents before, during and after the quake
3-5.Preparation to disaster
3-6.Injury/death due to the earthquake
3-7.Rescue activity
3-8.Health/medical care utilization
3-9.Mental/psychological shock due to the earthquake
3-10.Other relevant items included in the questionnaire
4. Survey method and field works
4-1.Interviewers visited the selected households and explained the objectives
of the Survey, contents of the questionnaire and methods for filling in the
questionnaire.
4-2.Interviewers revisited the households to collect the completed questionnaires
and then reviewed and edited them.
4-3.Interviewers prepared the households lists and the lists were sent to the
the Survey headquarters in the IMCJ, together with the completed
questionnaires.
5. Period of the field works
5-1.The field works were carried out during the period 15th January to
22nd February, 1996.
6. Member of the Committee
6-1.This survey program was planned and conducted by the Study
Committee of the Building Damages and Its Related Injuries in the
Great Hanshin Earthquake.
6-2.Members of the Committee were as follows.
Kazuyoshi Ohnishi /Department of Engineering, Kobe National University, Hyogo Pref., Japan
Noboru Ishii /Emergency Division, Kobe University Hospital, Hyogo Pref., Japan
Yasuhiro Ueno/ School of Medicine, Kobe National University, Hyogo Pref., Japan
Akiyoshi Nishimura/ School of Medicine, Shiga Medical University, Hyogo Pref., Japan
Shinichiro Wada/ Health & Welfare Department, Takarazuka City Office, Hyogo Pref., Japan
Keiko Abe/ Health & Welfare Department, Takarazuka City Office, Hyogo Pref., Japan
Osamu Sakurai/ Takarazuka City Nursing School, Hyogo Pref., Japan
Nicholas Jones/ Department of Civil Engineering, Johns Hopkins University ,USA
Gordon Smith/ School of Hygiene and Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, USA
Keishi Shiono/ Department of Engineering, Nagaoka College of Technology, Japan
Etsuko Kita/ Bureau of International Cooperation, International Medical Center of Japan, Japan (Ex)
Masumi Akagi/ Bureau of International Cooperation, International Medical Center of Japan, Japan (Ex)
(Note: Organizations of the members were those of them at the time of
conducting and concluding the Survey.)