Abstract
The Disaster Countermeasures Basic Law enacted in 1961 in the wake of the Isewan
Typhoon defines “disaster prevention” as “the prevention of disasters, the prevention of the
spread of damage when disasters occur, and the restoration of damage when disasters occur. The
Basic Law on Disaster Countermeasures defines “disaster reduction” as “preventing disasters
from occurring, preventing the spread of damage in the event of a disaster, and restoring the
damage. As shown in Figure 1, since the enactment of the Disaster Countermeasures Basic Law,
there has been no disaster that caused more than 1,000 deaths or missing persons until the Great
Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake on January 17, 19951）. In other words, the Great Hanshin-Awaji
Earthquake was a disaster that posed a major challenge to how to “prevent the spread of damage”
and “achieve disaster recovery” in the case of a disaster that caused large-scale damage. In
particular, Information Communication Technology (ICT) has evolved greatly from 1961 to
1995, and in the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake some of its potential were showed. This paper
describes the progress of information processing technology and its expected applicability to
disaster response.
