When there is a large-scale disaster, people care about the safety of their family and friends, and if their houses are not safe, they escape to an evacuation shelter. However, in the case of city officials, the larger the disaster scale, the more they have to prioritize their work. On the day of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, 41 percent of the city officials went to work to lead relief activities. Mr. Norio Katase is one of the Kobe City officials who worked night and day but was a victim himself.




80% of the rescue activities were done by the hands of the citizens

Mr. Katase was at his home in Suma Ward when the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake hit. Because it was an area with preserved old buildings, many houses collapsed from the intensity-seven tremor. Mr. Katase’s house, however, managed to stay standing, since it was built after the reform of the Building Standards Act in 1981 with greater seismic resistance.

On his way to City Hall, he rescued, together with his neighbors, more than ten people who were under a collapsed house. When a disaster spreads to a large area, the police, fire fighters, and the Self Defense Force members cannot do enough to help all victims. In fact, about 80 percent of the victims of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake were estimated to have been rescued by the hands of citizens.

Since the earthquake, city officials have collaborated with the affected citizens to rebuild the city. There were many Kobe citizens who took action on their own instead of waiting for the city to help them. The successful management of 600 evacuation shelters is one such example of collaboration.

What was the first thing the city officials did after the earthquake?

Photo: Students of a field trip from Nagoya City’s Shiroyama Junior High School visit the Port of Kobe Earthquake Memorial Park, a disaster site in Meriken Park, guided by K-TEC

Mr. Katase, who was Director of the Planning Department in the City Planning Bureau, was first assigned by the Headquarters for Disaster Control to make a disaster damage map. To receive a government subsidy for restoration, they needed to report the damage with figures.

There was no GPS at that time, so officials walked around the city for two days. They had to continue their investigation without helping injured people under collapsed buildings, which must have been hard for them. But we could not get any support from the government without a disaster damage map.

When an entire city is hit by a disaster, people must consider its city planning. According to Article 84 of the Building Standards Act, the construction of new buildings in the designated area can be controlled for a maximum period of two months. That was the time limit to plan a new city.

We created a land rezoning plan and a city redevelopment business plan under the policy of economical activation, small and medium-sized business reconstruction, recovery of social infrastructure, as well as with the aim to build a safe and disaster-resistant new city. In order to realize our plans, we asked the people whose houses were damaged to wait for two months to start reconstructing their houses, and asked them to offer pieces of their land, which was criticized by the mass media.

The Kobe City Regulation about City Planning and Agreements (the City Planning Ordinance), enacted in 1981, 15 years before the earthquake, played a big role. Based on this regulation, the affected citizens organized a City Planning Conference where, with the support of city planning consultants, the citizens themselves took the lead in creating their own city. Kobe City had discussions and worked with the Conference to promote Kobe’s reconstruction.

Photo: Kobe Housing and Urban Development Hall, the center of city planning since the earthquake

The city administration and disaster victims tend to be polarized, and even one single technical term can cause misunderstanding. The City Planning Conference sometimes had to stand between the two parties to “translate” in order to have a smooth conversation.

Making a system to repay the people of the world, the country, and the city for their support

Photo: Report booklets by K−TEC

When Mr. Katase talked about city reconstruction, he often used the phrase “thanks to the citizens.”

We always tried to create something with the victims of the earthquake and the store owners of shopping streets by trying hard but also while enjoying ourselves. Although it might be an overstatement to say that because of the sufferers’ efforts we could follow their lead, it was a true collaboration.

Photo: Mr. Katase at work with the citizens at Infiorata Kobe (the man in the center in the back, photograph provided by Kobe City)

Photo: At Infiorata Kobe, flowers form pictures on the streets (photograph provided by Kobe City)

One such example is the Infiorata Kobe project that started in the spring three years after the earthquake. In this event, which started because the citizens wanted to decorate the affected city beautifully and to create a link between the citizens by making something together, people draw pictures using flowers on streets and in plazas.

In the Gathering of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake 1.17, held in Higashi Yuenchi Park on January 17, bamboo lanterns are lit all over the park. Kobe is a city where the citizens take the initiative to hold such events.

Photo: Bamboo lanterns of 1.17 (photograph provided by Kobe City)

When I retired from Kobe City Hall, I was told by the former Mayor Kazutoshi Sasayama to take over the role of repaying the citizens and the people in Japan for their support and showing our appreciation.

After Mr. Katase retired from Kobe City Hall in 2004 after 38 years of service, he founded the Kobe Technical Experts Co-operative Association for Disaster Prevention (K-TEC) with 17 other members. It is built upon a network of active and retired city officials and members across specializations, and anyone can take part in their activities. The current 66 members participate in the monthly meetings on the second Tuesday each month without fail, and they had their 125th meeting in November 2014.


Sharing disaster experience with local governments in Japan to create a network

Photo: Earthquake Disaster Reconstruction Interchange Seminar in Kobe (2014.10.30)

The purpose of K-TEC activities is threefold: conveying the stories of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, research on risk management and natural disasters, and support and relief for risk management.

I especially want young city officials to understand the appropriate actions, dealings, and measures of each bureau during a disaster. When we go to the disaster-hit areas of the 2004 Chuetsu Earthquake or the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, we are regarded as experts because we are from Kobe. Retired officials can be helpful because we need to be able to answer any questions.

Since the Great East Japan Earthquake, K-TEC members who are retirees of Kobe City work not only in Kobe but in other disaster-hit areas to support local government officials. In 2013, they invited 13 officials from 10 local governments to the City Planning for Reconstruction Seminar in Kobe for a five-day discussion.

From October to November in 2014, Kobe City, the Kobe Institute of Urban Research, and K-TEC held the Earthquake Disaster Reconstruction Interchange Seminar in Kobe three times as a project to pass down and spread disaster experience, 20 years after the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. Forty-two participants from 15 local governments from disaster-hit Tohoku areas attended the seminar.

Mr. Katase and his coworkers are currently working with the participants to study and plan measures against the Nankai Megathrust Earthquakes which are expected to occur. For some cities in the coastal area in Shikoku, which may suffer greatly from such an earthquake, the cases in the Tohoku area where the scale of administration is similar may be helpful. Sharing earthquake experience among the local governments in the country will lead to the protection of the cities in Japan.


Inheriting the DNA of Kobe City officials and citizens

Photo: Mr. Katase explains liquefaction to children. He works hard to teach children how to minimize disasters.

The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake was like a bolt out of the blue for all people living in the Kansai area. However, there was a “Disaster every 30 years theory” in Kobe. There was the Great Flood in Hanshin in 1938, heavy rainfall in July 1967, and the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake came at the time when people started to talk of another great flood.

Heavy rainfall occurred in July the year after I joined City Hall. At that time, there were some officials who had experienced the Bombing of Kobe, which burned around 80 percent of Kobe city center, and some who had worked on land zoning after the war. Former Mayor Sasayama was one of those who experienced the reconstruction after the war. Because Kobe city officials including myself had inherited the DNA to deal with crisis and to prevent disaster, we could succeed in the reconstruction after the earthquake, and there are officials who are willing to take part in associations like K-TEC.

We asked Mr. Katase what he hopes for Kobe now, 20 years after the earthquake.

Mount Rokko used to be a bald mountain 100 years ago because of overuse of wood during the Edo Period, but the citizens and the government planted trees to protect against rock-slides. The citizens and the government have inherited the DNA to collaborate and create ways to protect our lives.

We have to protect our own lives. What the government can do is limited. Citizens, companies, and the government should work together to create a disaster-free city. I would especially like young people to take part in K-TEC to study together.

Protecting our own lives leads to the safety of the city. The citizens of Kobe have the DNA to protect their own city.
We should take the small step of thinking about our own cities.



(Interviewed and written by Sugimoto Kyoko)
This article was created with the cooperation of greenz.jp.