Documentary: The Great Hanshin Earthquake and Kajima

• A regular board meeting is convened at 10:00 AM. The establishment of a disaster relief headquarters is approved. President Miyazaki is elected chief of the headquarters. Efforts are made to collect information on employee safety and damage conditions and confirmation is acquired as to the swift and precise handlingof affairs.
  

  
  
  
  President Miyazaki presiding over directives in the Osaka relief headquarters
  

• Specialists from the Technical Research Center and the Kobori Research Laboratory are deployed into afflicted areas. A survey into the extent of the disastercommences.
  
• The branch disaster relief headquarters is established at the sametime. The branch manager, Kojima, is elected chief of the headquarters. A local relief headquarters is established within the Kobe sales office with the deputy branch manager, Shimizu, in charge of local relief.
  
• Recovery relief organizations are established in adjacent branches (Hokuriku,Nagoya, Hiroshima, Shikoku) and are notified to prepare reports.
  

• The president, vice-president Umeda and six other board members arrive in Osaka. A meeting is held on damage conditions and family safety verification methods, and client coverage starts.
  
• A charter ship loaded with relief supplies departs Osaka port for Kobe. The number of charter ships is later increased to two and they are used in the transportation of personnel and supplies between Osaka and Kobe.
  

  
  
  The charter ship "Yodogawa"
  

• A list of reinforcements from the head office and Nagoya office is prepared.
  
• The relief headquarters are set-up in the machine department, investigations are carried out into the numbers of heavy machinery available in each office and three technicians equipped with transceivers are dispatched.
  
• No damage occurred to the Kobe Commercial Trade Building in which the Kobe sales office is located.
  

  
  
  The undamaged Kobe Commercial Trade Building
  

• The research group from the Technical Research Center and Kobori Research Laboratory is strengthened.

January 19th

• The safety of employees and their families is verified. One fatality from amongst the 502 employees living in the disaster area is recorded. All other employees are reported as safe.
  
• A maximum of 500,000 in condolence money is paid to afflicted employees. Employees whose houses were destroyed are made applicable for a maximum of 5,000,000 in interest-free loans from a disaster recovery fund.
  
• A request for cooperation in recovery activities is received from the Minister of Construction via the Council of Japan Construction Industry, and a request for assistance in the disaster area is received from the Federation of Economic Organizations.

January 20th

• Recovery work on the Tokaido Shinkansen lines is completed and services between Kyoto and Shin-Osaka resume.

January 21st

• 20,000 blue water-proof sheets are supplied to the branch machinerycenter and efforts are made to cope with the requests of local government and clients. The function of the center is expanded to act as a supply base for water, fuel and machinery used in recovery activities.

January 22nd

• 76 assistance personnel from various departments arrive (32 from civil engineering, 21 from construction, 12 from electronics and 11 from general affairs).

January 23rd

• Water and food supplies are prepared in the Nishinomiya Araki Plant office, the Kobe Construction General Agency and the Yamaden Itajuku JV Works office for the use of employees, their families and relatives who live in the afflicted areas.
  
• 2,000 bottles of mineral water leave the head office for Osaka.
  
• The decision is made to collect contributions from board members and employees on a voluntary basis in order to provide relief for staff membersaffected by the disaster and for entrusting to related organizations to help in the disasterrevival. The deadline for this is February 2nd.
  

January 25th

• Company facilities in the Kansai Research Center and Kyoto Dormitory, etc., are assigned to the temporary use of employees whose houses have been completely or proportionally destroyed. Rental apartments are lined up in the event of short ages.
  

January 29th

• Doctors and nurses are dispatched to Kobe from the head office's Health Management Center and check-ups and health consultations are carried out. This will be repeated on a regular basis.
  

January 30th

• Work on the removal of debris from the collapsed portion of the Hanshin Expressway and repairs to the Kobe Harbor Authorities No.1 to No.4 wharfs is completed.
  

January 31st

• Request for the dispatch of volunteer diagnostic technicians (general construction) is received from the Construction Industry Cooperative Agency. The construction technicians headquarters is designated as the liaison.
  
• The "Organization Change from the Osaka Branch to the Kansai Branchand Organization Strengthening" press-release is issued. Mr.Toyoda, managing director, and Mr.Sato, director, are appointed general vice-managers of the Osaka office from February 1st, the number of employees is gradually increased to 350 people and the organizational change to the Kansai Office is effective from March 1st.
  

February 1st

• The "1995 South Hyogo Prefecture Earthquake Damage Survey (1st Edition)" based on the survey carried out by the Technical Research Center and the Kobori Research Laboratory is completed.
  

February 2nd

• 177 assistance personnel are dispatched on the same day from various departments with the promise of a further 53 in later days.
  
• A request for blood donations is received from the Red Cross Blood Center. 119 employees of East 21 give blood.
  

February 3rd

• Deadline for contributions. Amount collected reaches a total of 71,300,000. These contributions are split between the Japan Red Cross and staff members afflicted by the disaster.
  

February 9th

• Demolition work begins on the Kotsu Center Building in front of Sannomiya Station. This was introduced on a February 12th broadcast of TBS's "Journalists' Special".
  

February 10th

• The seismic waves triggered by this earthquake are entered into a large-scalethree-axis oscillator in the research center's large-scale oscillation experiment center and a public experiment is enacted during which seismic activity measuring 7 on the Japanese scale is reproduced. This event was widely covered by the mass-media including television.
  

  
  
  A view of the reproduction experiment
  

February 13th

• A briefing on the "1995 South Hyogo Prefecture Earthquake Damage Survey (1st Edition)" is held for journalists.
  
• The total number of employees' houses totally, proportionally or partly destroyed reaches 205.
  

February 20th

• 221 assistance personnel dispatched from various departments. Afurther 45 people planned.