While Izmit suffers, Kobe shows the way to recovery

Published: Sunday, August 22, 1999

KOBE, Japan {AP} A new shopping mall sparkles where fires raged. Couples stroll on a boardwalk that once tumbled into the bay. The city's quake-shattered roads and train lines now run straight and smooth.

As western Turkey struggles with the enormity of a massive earthquake, the Japanese city of Kobe devastated by a quake in 1995 stands as an example of how a city can come back from disaster.

Not five years since the quake, Kobe's downtown shines with a fresh coat of paint. Nearly every sign of damage has been replaced by shiny new buildings and tidy construction sites.

The comeback is remarkable. The 7.2-magnitude earthquake hit on Jan. 17, 1995, killing 6,425 people, toppling highway overpasses and flattening buildings. Fires ripped through whole city blocks, and nearly 250,000 homes were destroyed.

The city is proud of its comeback.

At the waterfront Meriken Park, a memorial for the quake and the recovery displays before-and-after photos of the city. A video triumphantly details Kobe's rebuilding campaign.

"It only took about two years to recover. You wouldn't think the quake ever hit," said Mitsue Ise, 24, a visitor to the memorial who lives in the neighboring city of Osaka.

If Kobe shines as an example, it also stands as a reminder of the massive resources needed to rebuild resources that Turkey's much smaller economy will have trouble providing.

The Kobe quake was a disaster, but one that happened in one of the richest countries in the world. Kobe city hall officials say nearly $90 billion has been spent so far to piece the city back together.

Despite all that money, total recovery has been elusive.

With many in Kobe still dealing with the legacy of their own quake, the disaster in Turkey seems remote. Kobe officials said Friday they would send quake experts to Turkey, but many people here tended to focus on the differences between Kobe and Izmit rather than the similarities of the quakes.

Few expected Turkey to manage a recovery like Kobe has.

"It'll take a lot longer in Turkey," said Saito. "The foundations of the economy are completely different."

Kobe's problems aside, the worst for the city is long over.

On Port Island, a huge plot of landfill in Kobe's bay, temporary housing set up for the homeless after the quake sits largely abandoned today.

Shoulder-high weeds tower beside the dingy units, most of which are boarded up with huge planks of plywood. While the rest of Kobe bustled on Friday morning, the area was silent.

An elderly man still living in one of the homes shooed away a visitor.

"No, no," he said, waving his hand. "No one lives here anymore."

AP-WS-08-21-99 1352EDT


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