Looking Back on Animal Rescue Activities in the Wake of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake
Shigekatsu ICHIDA Chairman, The Great Earthquake Animal Rescue Memorial Association

Today, I would like to talk briefly

center in Kita Ward, so it was decided to set up theabout the Great Hanshin-Awaji

rescue center there. Actual construction work started

Earthquake. When the earthquake

from around January 22 or 23. On my slide, the location

struck, the ﬁrst thing I thought about

is written as ʻSanda Cityʼ, because it took time to ﬁnd awas organizing animal rescue. But insuitable location in Kobe. As a result, this other rescue

the wake of a major earthquake, it iscenter was constructed in Sanda, quite a way inlanddiﬃcult to take the ﬁrst steps unless afrom Kobe. Now, in Hyogo Prefecture, we have therescue headquarters or some similar base of operations

Aigokan that stands beside the Muko River and there

has been set up close to the disaster site.

are also plans to build similar facilities in Awaji, Miki,At the time of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, theKasai, and even in the Tajima area. The ultimate lesson

three groups shown on this slide (#2) gathered and I

is that it is very important to have land area and facilities

heard that there was also an idea to establish a Tokyo

readily available. Unless we are routinely considering

headquarters to support these groups and their work in

where to construct such facilities, it will be difficult tothe ﬁeld.

perform rescue work immediately following a majordisaster.

Animal welfare organizations and veterinary medical
associations were involved. But even in the case of theKobe Cityʼs animal control center is located rather farveterinary associations, the Kobe City one and theaway from the central urban area on a mountain that

Hyogo Prefecture one are not totally the same. They arehas become one big cemetery. In one corner of thatsimilar organizations, but there are small differences

mountain stands the animal control center along, aand some subtle gaps between them. The animal

disaster prevention center, a prison (detention center)welfare organizations also diﬀer in some respects fromand a welfare complex called ʻShiawase no Muraʼ. The

the veterinary medical associations, but at the samelocation is fairly distant from residential neighborhoods,

time all of these various organizations share someand in that respect it was easy to establish the rescue

things in common. So, the focus was placed on in whatcenter there.

way the organizations could work together to perform

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rescue activities based on the points they had in

The animal shelter in Sanda was constructed bycommon.

developing a valley at the rear of Sanda Golf Course.

In the end, the three groups, able to share certain things

This facility was also located at quite a distance from thein common, did decide to work together. Then, joined

center of Sanda. I think it would be difficult to create

by Kobe City and Hyogo Prefecture in an advisory

such a facility in a city center and that is why it iscapacity, they held discussions on what they could doimportant to secure land for facilities at the very least. Inand how to do it. Ultimately, the decision was made to

our case, we only had to deal with the after-eﬀects of anestablish a relief center and participate in animal rescue.

earthquake. But, for example, in the case of a large Tokai

This organization was set up on January 21, which wasor Nansei earthquake in the future, the disaster area

just four days after the earthquake struck. So all in all I

would likely be struck by a powerful tsunami. Overseas,

think it was established rather quickly.

in parts of Indonesia and elsewhere, coastal areas were

Next came the establishment of the rescue center

deluged by a series of tsunamis over 10 meters highfacilities. In Kobe, there was an existing animal control

following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. In suchWorkshop ⅠCrisis Management When Disaster Strikesplaces, the rescue centers need to be established inthe Veterinary Association of Kobe City performed thelocations at a safe distance away from potential tsunami

work. But in Sanda, where we were working alone, therefloods. However, in Kobe we were able to respondwere never enough staﬀ on hand. At the beginning, wewithout having to take the possibility of tsunamis into

were taking care of 50 to 60 animals a day. We wereconsideration.

only just able to get by despite treating the animals at
all hours from morning to evening. Although many

In my slide (#3) we can see the rescue centerʼsveterinarians and veterinary students hurried to ourorganization. We made various changes as we wentassistance, things did not go very well in practice. Wealong, although they were not systematized at ﬁrst. This

realized that we needed to give them instructions on

was the Administration Section, usually called

how diﬀerent procedures should be done, and on when

“Reception”. This section undertook such tasks as liaison

to refer cases judged too much for the center to handle

with Headquarters, telephone reception, clerical workto a veterinary hospital, etc. So we decided to appoint aand reporting.

chief to decide such matters. However, even among themembers of the Veterinary Association of Kobe City, notRegarding the reporting, Reception responded to theeveryone was qualiﬁed to play such a role. Some people

daily inquiries from the press, who would call up to ask,

were good at it while others were not. But in spite of“How many animals are you taking care of?” Usually

everything, I think we managed the situation fairly wellthese calls came at 4 or 5 pm, when we were very busyand we were able to hold our ground.

taking care of the animals for the evening. At that timeof day, many volunteers and animals were entering or

Next, we come to the Rearing Section, which was inleaving the center so it was very troublesome to have tocharge of rearing young animals, a task actuallydeal with phone inquiries too. Looking back now, it

performed by volunteers. We needed the volunteers towould have been best if there had been one person

cooperate closely and we had to coordinate thespecifically in charge of responding to inquiries fromschedule to ensure sufficient numbers of volunteers

the press, but I remember things didnʼt go very

were available when needed. The volunteer side cannot

smoothly at that time.

carry out this kind of coordination alone.

Then there was the Accounting Section. It is an

At the beginning, we didnʼt know if we would be able

important section that was charged with the tasks of

to gather enough volunteers or not, so we just kept on

handling and keeping track of money coming in andasking people to join. Later, when we got used to thegoing out. Naturally, when we closed down, we ﬁnishedsituation, we were able to state clearly how many

off the accounting correctly by having a fullvolunteers would be needed, and at what time, andexamination performed by a certified public

exactly what we wanted them to do. Depending on

accountant. In this kind of operation, it is easy to deal

what a given volunteer could do, we sometimes had towith large items of expenditure, but the minor but dailytell them that ʻwe didnʼt need their particular skill justoutgoings (such as meals, stationery supplies and thenow, so could they call us back again a month or solike) can be very troublesome to keep a record of. Forlaterʼ. Thinking about it now, it would have been better

this too, we required frequent professional help in orderif we had clarified what we needed at the outset andto prevent everything from becoming disorganized. Inthen asked speciﬁcally for cooperation with that.

the absence of good organization and professional
help, it is impossible to carry out volunteer workIncidentally, because the volunteers for the Rearing

comfortably.

Section had to always be on hand to take care of theMoving on, the slide shows the Veterinary Section,animals, they had to live on site. So it was important towhich was where medical treatment and healthsupport their daily lives by providing meals, installingexaminations of the animals took place. In Kobeʼs case,bathing areas, and providing daily-use items. It would

Workshop Ⅰ

Crisis Management When Disaster Strikes

23also have been far better if we had been moreindicates.

organized in this respect. For example, we hadproblems with dining. There was a volunteer group

Immediately after an earthquake, a great number ofbased near the center, and they applied for permission

animals are brought to a rescue center. Most of themto help us out. But the local public health department

are distressed, sick or both. But as time goes by, theadvised them to request the rescue center to ensure

numbers needing rescue center care decline as animals

that they not dine in the same place as animals wereare reunited with their owners or accepted by new

being treated, due to hygiene concerns. At the time ourowners, etc. Consequently the numbers of volunteers

actual dining place was an examination table that wasgradually decrease in line with the reduced demand foralways cleaned after treatment. We all used to eat there

their services. It seems that this number is the minimum

and none of our volunteers had any particularnumber to keep the rescue center operating. In general,

complaints about it. But when this new group wanted

potential volunteers would be well advised to think into join our activities, it was no longer possible toadvance about what they can and cannot do on a daily

continue doing things in that way. We did have a large

basis, such as where they are prepared to work, what

tent that had been loaned to us by the SDF (army). The

their limits are, whether they can only help out during

new volunteer group suggested that we use that tent

the summer vacation, etc.

for dining but it was already ﬁlled with relief goods. So
we were unable to ﬁnd a dining place, and as a result,

When the organization, place and manpower have allwe had to refuse the help of that volunteer group. My

been secured, the next thing required is money. In ourpersonal view is that it would have been better if theycase, we hadnʼt made any prior preparations to obtain

had been a little more flexible. For instance, in an

funding so at the beginning we had a hard time. Of theemergency, ordinary regulations canʼt always bemoney we raised from public donations, approx. \83applied. Of course, the authorities handled things

million was left over after the rescue center was closed

flexibly to a certain extent. For example, people whodown, so our Tokyo headquarters asked five other

had lost their homes in the disaster were allowed toorganizations to set up a headquarters for animal rescue

take their pet animals to live with them in temporary

in times of disaster. In fact, that money went on to pay

housing or in public housing.

the initial expenses for several animal rescue operations
including the Nakhodka oil tanker disaster, the volcanic

In this way, we were at least able to run the rescue

eruptions of Mount Usu in Hokkaido and on Miyakejima

center without too many hitches, but I admit that there

Island, etc. I believe that it helped make these activities

were some matters of regret and things in need ofrun more smoothly. Of course, if a major earthquake

improvement that should be reﬂected upon.

were to hit a major metropolis such as Tokyo, \80
million or so would only be a drop in the ocean. But still,

The next slide (#4) shows some statistics about theour purpose has been achieved to a certain extent.

volunteer numbers over time. It shows the dayvolunteers, the overnight volunteers, the veterinary

We also carried out a questionnaire survey about animal

students and the veterinarians. It also shows totals forrescue. The first question asked who should performthe Veterinary Association of Kobe City and for the

animal rescue activities (slide #6). The results showed

Japan Animal Welfare Society (JAWS). Roughly speaking,that our respondents thought that the best method wasduring the period from January to April, we ran thefor the three parties, namely government authorities,

rescue center on an emergency basis. From around Mayveterinary associations and animal welfare

12, a proper prefabricated shelter was established. The

organizations, to work together, and the second best

number of volunteers declined naturally with themethod would be to establish a permanentpassage of time post-quake, but also because the needorganization to perform animal rescue activities.

for their services gradually declined, as the graph

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Workshop Ⅰ

Crisis Management When Disaster Strikes

The next question (slide #7) asked how rescue centersabsolutely right as well.

should deal with rescued animals after performing ﬁrstaid. Who should take care of the animals? Here,The next slide (#8) shows the spaying and neutering

according to the respondents, the best method by far

ratios of the animals when they were brought into thewas that the original owners should take back theirfacility. The ratios of spayed or neutered animals wereanimals because the animals do not belong to the

3.8% for dogs and approx. 11% for cats. Probably such

rescue center. Since the animals have owners, their careratios are a little higher today than they were in 1995,

is the responsibility of their owners. Or if an owner

but unless owners take responsibility for the animals injudges that they can no longer take care of their animal,

their care, unwanted animals will be born. We saw

then it is still their responsibility to ﬁnd a new owner.

examples of this in the temporary housing. At thebeginning, people were not allowed to keep animals in

Following the Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake, we

temporary housing facilities, but we asked theinformed the owners of the animals in our care that theauthorities to tell the temporary housing management

period we could take care of their animals would be

not to place strict conditions on animal keeping.

limited to one month, and even though this wasHowever, when people left the temporary housing

extended in special cases, the absolute maximum

accommodation, some animals remained behind andwould be two months. We asked the owners to please

continued to breed. So owners should deﬁnitely spay or

decide what they were going to do about the animals

neuter their animals as a matter of personal

within this period. At the beginning, we thought weresponsibility.

might be able to take care of the animals for a littlelonger, such as until the time when the ownersʼ newThis question (in slide 9) reads, “Have you madehomes were constructed, etc. However, there were new

preparations for your pets in case of an emergency?”

problems that required consideration such as alpha28% of respondents answered, “Yes”. That figure wassyndrome, etc. Since volunteers were taking care of theunexpectedly high, so I checked the details, andanimals in the rescue center, from the animalsʼ point of

discovered that what most of the respondents meantview, their ʻownersʼ were changing every week or two,by “preparations” was nothing special. It meant simply

and this made the animals act strangely. Animals exhibit

giving their pet a name card or something similar. That

subtle diﬀerences in behavior depending on how theyis acceptable at one level, but it is not nearly enough.

are taken care of, so it is best to return them to their

Today, we should microchip our pets, train them, spay

original owners as quickly as possible. I think owners

or neuter them, vaccinate them against rabies, ﬁlariasis,should always have thought through how to deal withetc., and keep them in a healthy condition. Also,

such a situation as part of their responsibility as owners.

preparations should not be limited to what we do to

In the case of owners who have only one animal, they

the animals but also to deciding how we can evacuateshould be able to ﬁnd a new owner without too muchwith them too. For example, an older person might ﬁndproblem. But if an owner is taking care of a large groupit difficult bring along a big Labrador when theyof animals, it can be very diﬃcult to ﬁnd new owners forevacuate. Pet owners need to consider these things in

all of them. I am not against individuals taking care ofadvance too.

large numbers of animals, but in such cases the owners
should decide in advance what they are going to do at

In all, we rescued 1,556 animals. From among theira time of disaster or in some other eventuality. But it isowners, we recovered 481 questionnaire answers. I

not good if people simply accumulate many animals

have been told that this roughly 30% response rate is awithout thinking.

good ﬁgure for this kind of questionnaire. I am reporting

The second most common answer was that the rescue

these ﬁgures as the denominators of this questionnaire.

center should take care of the animals for as long as

That concludes my talk.

possible regardless of the situation. I think this isWorkshop Ⅰ

Crisis Management When Disaster Strikes

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