STUDY ON FIRES OUTBREAKS AND SPREAD CAUSED BY THE GREAT HANSHIN AND AWAJI EARTHQUAKE IN KOBE CITY

Abstract

Fifty four fires occurred simultaneously in Kobe city area until 6:00am on January 17^<th>. These areas were densely packed with old wooden houses. So fires spread one after another easily until the area about 80ha were burnt. In this paper the situations of fire outbreaks and the fires spreads are discussed mainly on the bases of real spreading fires data which were recorded and surveyed as the media of videos and pictures by Kobe Fire Department and NHK at that day.