There have been many natural disasters in Japan because of an insecure environment. The earthquake is the most serious disaster above all. Earthquakes of more than magnitude 7.0 happened 900 times for 90 years all over the world. 10% of the 900 earthquakes happened in Japan (Yonekura 106). It shows us that the collision of four plates is very strong. Earthquakes always happen abruptly, and it causes huge damage. On September 1st, 1923, the Great Kanto Earthquak

The Kobe Earthquake victims are in the process of recovery from these serious problems still now. However, the volunteer activities strongly helped them for the recovery. The strong impact of Kobe Earthquake turned out the many volunteers from not only in Japan, but also all over the world. It was a characteristic of the Kobe Earthquake (Miyano and The Editorial Department of Sankei Newspaper 153). The volunteers worked for various needs for the victims. At first, the main needs as the emergency were charring relief or water, helping at the shelters, identifying the safety of the victimfs relatives, supplying food. However, the victimfs needs changed with progress of time. It was focused on the victimfs mental care because of the anxiety for the future or the old peoplefs weakness. To talked with the victims as a place of community was very important job as the volunteer. The victims could get information from them and also reduce their stress, and the old people were given the energy to live by communicate with volunteers as friends. It has passed 7 years from the Kobe Earthquake, and the scars in the victimfs heart were still there. However, the activities of volunteers helped them and gave them the opportunities for the recovery.

The most characteristic and serious old people problems were the death because of the loneliness and the suicides. In fact, more than 200 people died because of loneliness or suicide in temporary housings (Miyano and The Editorial Department of Sankei Newspaper 96). The cause of these problems was various handicaps as an old. For example, having the physical troubles such as senile dementia or chronic illnesses, the difficulty to living by themselves, the limited revenue, and the decay in adaptability to new environment made the old people run into mental weakness (Miyano and The Editorial Department of Sankei Newspaper 95). As a result of their mental weakness, they lost their energy to alive. Especially, the death because of the loneliness and the suicides happened more often after the old people moved into the temporally housing (Miyano and The Editorial Department of Sankei Newspaper 96). The life in the temporally housing was not comfortable for the old people. They are disconnected from their network of the old friends and the acquaintances, and it takes time and inconvenience to go shopping or to see their doctor because most of the temporally housings were built in the suburb of the Kobe area. These handicaps as an old appeared as the death because of the loneliness and the suicides. Therefore, the old people needed the mental care at that time. Japan is getting to be aging society now. The old people problem has to be thought deeply not only by the Kobe Earthquake victims, but also by every people for our future.

The second major natural disaster in Japan is the tsunami. This occurs when an earthquake happens. The wave that is caused by an earthquake is called a tsunami. Earthquakes make the bottom of the sea up heave or sink, so tsunamis occasionally attack coastal areas. Japan is located on the hitting point of four plate tectonics happens tsunamis proportionately with earthquakes. When an earthquake happens, the Japanese people have to worry about tsunami disaster at the same time.

The second serious problem by the Kobe Earthquake is the shelter life problem. About 104,900 hous

Some topics in this essay:
Sankei Newspaper, Kobe Earthquake, Meteorological Agency, Shimizu Hamada, Temperate Zone, Kobe Living, Port City, University Osaka, Earthquake Kobe, kobe earthquake, Earthquake Japanese, editorial department sankei, sankei newspaper, editorial department, department sankei, department sankei newspaper, miyano editorial, miyano editorial department, earthquake victims, natural disasters, shelter life, kobe earthquake victims, happened japan, people living, death loneliness suicides,