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30 years on: Special issue in remembrance of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake

January 17, 2025 marked 30 years since the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. As a national university in the disaster area, Kobe University has been conducting research on disaster prevention, mitigation and recovery, disseminating research results and contributing to the local community. In remembrance of the disaster, the “Kobe University Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake 30th Anniversary Project Committee” (chaired by President FUJISAWA Masato) was established in November 2023 to plan a wide range of projects that will lead to future research, education and sharing of lessons learned.

Kobe University, including the former Kobe University of Mercantile Marine, lost a total of 47 students and faculty members in the disaster. This experience has since become the impetus for numerous research projects and has led us to preserve and inherit materials related to the disaster, as well as to support activities for various disaster-stricken areas. For a time when major disasters occur frequently in Japan and abroad, we have created this special issue to pass on our university-wide accumulation of research results, experiences and efforts to the next generation.

Interview series

2025.07.07　Towards resident-centered regional design
2025.07.04　Developing rural areas without focusing on disaster prevention
2025.05.20　Effective support for disaster-stricken municipalities
2025.03.28　Building resilient lifelines with both hard and soft countermeasures
2025.03.27　Striving to shed light on the mechanism of major earthquakes
2025.03.26　Digging up local history to update the culture of disaster preparedness
2025.03.11　Developing disaster education to protect children’s lives
2025.03.06　Exploring the future of disaster recovery as communities face population decline
2025.03.03　Next-generation hazard maps to help society change and enhance disaster resilience
2025.01.10　Medical lessons from the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake and JR Fukuchiyama Line derailment accident
2024.12.19　Legislation to protect the human rights of disaster victims
2024.12.02　Volunteers demonstrate the strength of the flock

Booklet

In January 2025, Kobe University compiled researcher interviews into a booklet, which looked back on the 30 years since the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake and into the future. (Available only in Japanese)