Abstract
In order to evaluate the influences of The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, which happened on 17 Jan. 1995, on the atmospheric environment, six heavy metals which were monthly measured from Dec. 1994 through Jan. 1996 in the ten sampling sites were analyzed.
In Kobe, Ashiya and Takaraduka city, which had been damaged heavily by the earthquake, ratio of the each concentration to the monthly average during five years before the earthquake was standardized with the ratio of contrasted sampling sites, then the standardized ratios before and after the earthquake were compared.
Consequently, the ratio of Zn, Pb and Cd increased notably from Jan. to Mar. 1995 and the concentrations were 1.6 to 2.0 times larger than those of common year, whereas the ratio of Fe, Mn and Ni was smaller than these elements.
The fact that the ratio of fine particles such as Zn, Pb and Cd increased notably indicates that the particles were produced principally by combustion process and the field incineration of wastes such as houses collapsed by the earthquake was one of the factors influenced on the increase of these heavy metal concentrations.
