Kobe marks 28 years since deadly quake

Awa no Gaijin

do you know of any country where private homes have sprinkler systems?

I wasn't defending I was just stating the position of fire safety and building codes. Also, the anime studio in Kyoto did not have one.

Anyone interested in seeing and maybe understanding a little of that day can visit the Earthquake museum in HAT Kobe.

I remember it well, I was watching Kobe burn on tv for a week.

There was nothing they could do, all the roads were blocked with rubble.

Fire safety for Japan’s high-rise apartment buildings

"According to the Tokyo Fire Department, 80% of the 576 high-rise (11 storeys and higher) apartment buildings inspected in 2016 were issued orders for violating the Fire Services Act. The majority of the infractions were were for not designating a fire safety supervisor for fire drills, and not conducting regular checks of fire-fighting equipment."

"apartments on the 11th floor and above are obligated to have sprinkler systems, unless other requirements are met (eg. an open elevator hall, more than two emergency exits, non-flammable materials used on apartment interiors and so on). These floors must also have fire walls for every 100 ~ 500 square meters."

https://japanpropertycentral.com/2017/06/fire-safety-for-japans-high-rise-apartment-buildings/

Twenty-eight years later some things are two painful to talk about. Like disaster in general, whether you are okay or not okay is a matter of luck.

Introduction to the Building Standard Law

Building Regulation in Japan‐ Building Regulation in Japan ‐

(Ver. July 2013)

https://www.bcj.or.jp/upload/international/baseline/BSLIntroduction201307_e.pdf

Since Awa no Gaijin quoted from my comment in his post, I replied back.

Nothing about me.

Private homes in Japan are not required to have a sprinkler system. Not all public buildings are required to have sprinkler systems. According to the building codes, it depends on when the building was constructed and how many square meters of space.

Modern high-rise apartment blocks will have sprinkler systems in the common areas but not in the apartments. Most of the destroyed homes in Kobe were private houses. Older apartments do not have sprinkler systems.

"The powerful quake damaged around 640,000 homes, including about 104,000 that were destroyed."

All rental homes are now required to have smoke detectors but not owner homes.

There are small historical villages with thatched roofs like Kayabuki no Sato, a small hamlet in Kyoto which has installed a sprinkler system around the outside of the houses.

Years have gone, and time continues to pass, may their souls rest in peace.

Private homes don't have sprinkler systems but many buildings do like dept stores. The fires were mostly because of broken gas lines.

Since it was just before 5 am most people were still at home. 5-6 hours it could have been much worse. There are always escape routes and people need to make themselves familiar with them.

The memorial service and the candles are outside in a park alongside the city hall. It's in the article.

After every major earthquake, building codes are reviewed and updated but not applied retrospectively.

Most towns and cities provide an earthquake inspection of owner homes. It is extensive and the report shows weaknesses in the structure.

All of our local schools, government buildings, and hospitals were upgraded or replaced.

The extent of the damage from the earthquake spurred changes to the country's disaster response and earthquake resistance measures for construction.

And yet those "measures" didnt seem up to par when the "next" one's occurred, and even to this day seem to have a loooooonnnnngggg way to go!

The only change, to me anyway, is the government raising taxes so the people throughout the country share in the disaster along with those directly affected!

There are events in everyone's lives that they can remember and relive what they were doing at the time.

This was one for me personally, seeing the fires, the destroyed buildings, the overturned highway on it's side, and was amazed that more people didnt die.

I attended every year for 16 years until we moved out.

That was a biggy at the time. I was living in Hawaii and the people of Hawaii sent Japan a bunch of money to help.