Older People in Natural Disasters: The Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995

Japan’s Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995 destroyed the homes, livelihoods, and communities of many elderly people. Some of the most vulnerable survivors spent up to five years in temporary shelters before settling into publicly subsidised apartments or dispersing into the general population. Public scrutiny of the post-earthquake recovery drew attention to the challenges of community generation and the loneliness, isolation, and death experienced by elderly earthquake victims.

Bringing together quantitative and qualitative analysis of media discourse, public policy, and ethnographic fieldwork, this book examines the earthquake’s long-term effects of temporary shelters and public reconstruction housing for elderly residents. The first study to utilize NVivo qualitative research software in a Japanese research context, this is an original contribution to natural disaster literature, as well as health and welfare policy in societies that, like Japan, are undergoing rapid urbanisation and population ageing.