Older Persons in Emergency Situations: A Case Study of the Great
Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake  Technical report    Publication
details  Number of pages: 24 Publication date: 2013 Languages:
English    As society continues to age, considerations for
action and policies to cope with the needs and capacities of
older people, people with disabilities, and others who need
support in a disaster are critical. In the case of the Great
Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake (1995), statistics showed that there
were 6,433 deaths, 43,792 injured and 510,000 homes damaged.
Older people were found to have higher mortality rates: among
immediate casualties, 53% in Kobe City and 56.6% in Hyogo
Prefecture overall were aged 60 and above. Among later
earthquake related deaths: 90% were aged 60 and above.
Considered as the “first aged society earthquake” in the world,
this case study report reflected on the situation of elderly
victims and survivors of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake
through the perspective of the disaster cycle and synthesi