2016 Volume 14 Pages 121-124
Under the Disaster Relief Act in Japan, public facilities are supposed to be used as the first choice for evacuation shelters at the time of disaster. Therefore, the cost of the space for evacuation shelters is considered free. However, at the time of recent major disasters such as the Great Hanshin Earthquake, a lot of private facilities were also used for evacuation due to short of accommodations. In Japan, earthquakes such as the Major Nankai Trough Earthquake and the Tokyo Inland earthquakes that require further space of mass evacuees including commuters stranded downtown due to suspension of transportation services homeward are currently concerned. In order to utilize private sector’s facilities widely, private sector’s effort to provide their facilities for evacuees should be properly recognized and appreciated by society. In this paper, the authors have presented an estimated cost of the space for evacuation shelters using the evacuation data in Kobe at the time of the Great Hanshin Earthquake.
