FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Updated 00:00 01/17/95
Contact: Clark Staten, EMT-P
Phone: (312) 631-ERRI
FAX: (312) 631-4703
Chicago, IL, January 16 -- At least four hundred and thirty (430) people have been killed and more than eleven-hundred (1,100) people have been injured as a 7.2 magnitude earthquake roared through Central Japan at 05:46a.m. (local time). Particularly hard hit are the cities of Kobe and Osaka. Reports of numerous building collapses and fires burning out of control, are being recieved. Water and gas mains are reported broken, and several major highways have also collapsed, hindering the movement of rescue services.
As many as five-hundred (500)people have been reported trapped in collapsed apartment buildings and local fire/rescue services say that they have been "overwhelmed" by requests for assistance. Fire units are said to be running from fire to fire, but can't keep up with rapidly spreading conflagrations in Japan's largely 'wood and paper" buildings. Fire codes are particularly stringent in Japan, but even strict regulation can't control the fires that have been started by this quake.
Although spokespersons for most rescue services are unavailable for comment at the time of this report, an unidentified fire captain who spoke briefly to ENN, said that fire and rescue units are being sent from several other places in Japan, to assist in the rescue efforts. He said that fire units are being hampered by the collapse of several freeways that normally would be used to respond to fires.
As with most earthquakes, the magnitude of this disaster is just beginning to be understood. Rescues will be on-going for at least the next seventy-two hours, or until everyone is rescued and all of the buildings have been searched. Protracted rescue operations can be expected.
Update on Kobe/Osaka Earthquake; National police forces are confirming the deaths of 430 people and injuries to more than 1,100 more. Unconfirmed. reports say that more than 550 others are missing feared trapped. Extensive rescue efforts are said to be continuing and the Japanese Defense Force has been mobilized and is responding. Major fires are still burning out of control in several areas, and firefighters are described as "overwhelmed". Water supply problems are being reported and often associated with the inability to fight fires, in some neighborhoods. An unnamed ambulance official said he feared the death toll would continue to rise much higher.
Rescue efforts in Kobe continue to come under criticism by the local press and citizens. The English language Japan Times is reporting "woeful inadequacies" in the response of disaster and rescue service organizations. Numerous local and international commentators are lamenting a "lack of supplies and preparations" by governmental agencies. Thousands are reported to be either still trapped in collapsed buildings, or huddled by campfires without food or water.
As rescue convoys attempt to flood into the stricken areas, they are often slowed or stopped by massive traffic jams that have continually prevented the timely movement of fire equipment and ambulances. Travel is described as difficult, at best, on the few roads that are not blocked by the rubble of collapsed buildings. Within the past twelve hours, helicopters have begun to be seen hovering over the devastated neighborhoods. They are reported to be delivering food and blankets to a number of make-shift relief centers throughout Kobe.
Fire/Ambulance/Military rescuers are still combing through the remains of quake-battered structures, hoping to find survivors, and on several occasions they have been rewarded by finding people alive. Many civilians are also reported to be digging through the rubble with their bare hands, in an effort to find lost loved ones. Although rescue prospects do diminish with time, U.S. rescue experts say that, statistically and historically, people have been found alive for more than seventy-two (72) hours following earthquakes/ building collapses.
Clark Staten, Executive Director of the Chicago-based Emergency Response & Research Institute, said, "In Mexico City, Armenia, and other major earthquakes, rescuers often find people alive for days after the initial shockwave." "Statistically speaking there is an increase in the number found alive at approximately 72 hours into the incident", the veteran paramedic continued. "People are often trapped in voids, created as the parts of the structures catch and support other parts of the collapse", he added. "The rescue efforts in Japan, as in several other disasters, have been heroic...and they should not be terminated until it can be determined that no more people remain entrapped." Staten added.
"At approximately forty-eight (48) hours into any major disaster, it is common for local emergency services personnel to become totally exhausted and unable to continue with their work", he continued. "If they are not already on the scene, or enroute, now is an appropriate time for international emergency rescue forces to go to the aid of Japan", he concluded.
Japanese officials have so far not requested outside emergency rescue teams. According to Kiko Haneda of the Japanese Embassy in Tel-Aviv, "the Japanese government has not decided yet on any foreign aid...It has, however, expressed its thankfulness to the countries that offered it." The statement was made in regard to an Israeli offer to send an army canine unit that was trained to search for survivors buried in debris.
Reportedly, the U.S. government has also offered to send members of its' elite Urban Search & Rescue Teams (USAR) and National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) medics to the scene, but the Japanese government has reportedly not replied to these offers. Some Swiss army search dogs, however, were reported to be enroute to Japan to offer their assistance. Many problems lie ahead for the devastated areas near Kobe and Osaka.
Chicago, IL, January 20, 1995 --More than 4,400 people have died, 22,000 have been injured and another 650 are still missing in the wake of a devastating earthquake that struck Central Japan on Tuesday. According to the Los Angeles Times, Japan's most senior civil servant today finally admitted that the Japanese emergency response was "less than optimal". Nobuo Ishihara, Japan's deputy cabinet secretary in charge of coordinating the emergency response, reportedly said that "it is very serious that it took so long for us to comprehend the extent of the damage". Japanese officials have been subjected to increasing criticism of the slowness of their dispatching of rescue personnel and continual refusal of offers of "technical rescue resources" from the United States and other countries.
Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama toured the devastated areas and publicly focused on establishing better earthquake-proof construction standards. He was quoted by United Press International (UPI) as saying, "We will make every effort to search for and rescue those that are still missing...while redoubling our precautions against the continuing aftershocks." Other officials within the Murayama government are blaming it's slow response to the disaster, on a lack of formal request from the local "prefecture" or state government. Outside rescue experts say that there may be a number of political and psychological reasons that the rescue efforts have been delayed or not requested at all by the Murayama government.
This morning, at least nine (9)people were pulled alive from the wreckage of several of thousands of collapsed buildings. Rescue experts from the United States and elsewhere say that it is likely that still more entrapped people will be pulled alive from the debris. But...they also say that the chances of survival shrink with each passing hour, and that the Japanese should have accepted technical help from outside...earlier in this disaster. The "hot topic" among rescue experts, both on the Internet and elsewhere, is why the Japanese continue to resist the idea of "outside help". One veteran emergency administrator is quoted in an Internet post as saying, "If I was faced with a disaster of the magnitude of Kobe, I would be 'screaming for help' from outside nations)...not just asking for it."
At least one Chicago area emergency analyst said that he believes that the delays are based in an ancient Japanese concept that fears "losing face". He said that Japanese leaders may have been unwilling to publicly admit that their own rescue forces were unprepared to effectively manage the emergency response to the Kobe quake. Secondarily, he said, admitting the vast devastation that is evident in the Kobe area is tantamount to admitting that Japanese earthquake preparedness and construction standards are not as effective as many had hoped. Either admission could result in additional criticism of the Murayama government and, according to ancient custom, cause their resignation/removal from power.
Regardless for the reasons behind a reportedly ineffective rescue and relief operation, one thing is clear. Today's global communications and economic systems make resources and information available to even the most remote sites where a disaster might occur. There is certainly no rational reason for any unnecessary loss of life in a major city, in a major industrial country. If enough voices of reason are heard, maybe...just maybe...leaders of proud cities and countries will heed the call and ask for help when they really need it. We would hope that the lessons being learned in Kobe would be clearly understood by both the Japanese and other countries faced with catastrophic natural disasters.