Teruo Fujiwara

Director of Disaster Debris Management Office
Environment Bureau City of Kobe
(5-3-7 Kumoidori, Chuo-ku, Kobe 651 Japan)

Abstract

This paper shows the process of demolition and conveyance of distroyed housing and buildings in Kobe, as a result of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake on January 17th 1995. It also shows the methods used for treatment and disposal of disaster debris.

According to the Meteorological Agency, the intensity of the quake at the water front area of Kobe was seven on the Japanese scale. The magnitude was much greater than what the disaster prevention program of Kobe had anticipated. (The program assumed a tremor of the 5th degree.) The total number of destroyed and burned houses and buildings is about 94,000. It is assumed as of April 1995, that the disaster debris in Kobe amounted to some 14 million cubic meters.

We are collecting the waste at temporary sites now, and arranging separation and incineration systems for it. We will finish the demolition and conveyance of destroyed houses and buildings by the end of March 1996, and complete the treatment and disposal of the debris by the end of March 1997.

Key words: the 7th degree on the Japanese seismic scale, Disaster Prevention Program of Kobe, the amount of disaster debris, a temporary waste collection site, separation and incineration