Photographs of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake: Top page of the NDL Great East Japan Earthquake Archive (HINAGIKU)

January 16th, 2025

It has been nearly 30 years since the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake on January 17, 1995. In commemoration of this tragic natural disaster, we will exhibit five photographs from three archives on the top page of HINAGIKU from January 16 to January 30, 2025.

The three archives are the Kobe University Library Digital Archive Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake Disaster Materials Collection, the Disaster Reduction and Human Renovation Institution (DRI) and ABC TV The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake 1995 recorded interview video archives.

These archives are located in the Kinki region and collect a variety of records related to the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake.

They are also working on a number of initiatives intended to hand down experiences from the Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake and to apply those lessons to the future. You can search materials from these archives via HINAGIKU.

Kobe University Library Digital Archive Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake Disaster Materials Collection

Overview of the collection

The Kobe University Collection includes books, research reports, survey reports, statistical compilations and other printed matter as well as CD-ROMs and other electronic media, videos, audio cassettes, microforms, photographs, and maps.

Moreover, it includes a Digital Gallery, from which photographs, audio and other materials are accessible, as well as news material footage by the local TV station Sun Television. On the page of fixed-point photographs (Japanese), you can see the status of restoration at the same place after the earthquake disaster.

Disaster Reduction and Human Renovation Institution (DRI)

Overview of the collection

The DRI archives documentation and items created or used during the recovery and reconstruction of the affected communities in the aftermath of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake of 1995.

It also archives publications about disaster prevention and about the damage caused by the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake and other disasters.

The DRI website also features a project entitled "Earthquake Disaster Resource Narrative - A Story".

ABC TV The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake 1995 recorded interview video archives

Overview of the collection

The video footage of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake owned by Asahi Television Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in Osaka, along with footage provided by viewers who have given permission for its release, totaling more than 40 hours and over 2,000 clips, is shown without any mosaic censorship in principle. This is done to help viewers understand the situation at the time the disaster occurred.