ter) 
  
  
5)-2. Consideration of each district : 
Wooden-framed houses of one story existed in great 
numbers and in high density in Nagata District. 
However, only a few such one-stor ied houses were seen 
in Nada District. In Nagata district, wooden-framed 
houses were bui | t on narrow sites, and the houses were 
crowded on adjacent lots along the network of narrow 
streets. These key factors of high density, wooden 
frames susceptible to fire, and narrow steets 
unsuitable for fire-fighting were causes of the 
large-scale urban fire . Concerning the si tuation 
of fires extinguished by fire-fighting, fireproof 
buildings had to fulfill their roleas firebreaks when 
the fire started to spread. In consequence, high 
densely crowded houses were at high risk in the event 
of a fire or earthquake . 
5)-3. Decipherment of the building type : 
< Before the earthquake > 
There were many open spaces left by the urban planning 
of the city government. It would easily have been 
possible to predict the destroyed or damaged houses 
and the spread of fire from a decipherment of the 
building type before the earthquake. |t would have 
been guessed that the causes of the spread of fire on 
a large scale would be the densely bui | t-up areas, the 
network of narrow streets, and the lack of fireproof 
structures. 
< After the earthquake > (Phtograph 1,2,and 3) 
Buildings and houses with high fire resistance were 
left intact unless burned-out by fire. Al though these 
fireproof bui Idings splendidly fulfilled their roles 
in the prevention of the spread of fire, the narrow 
Streets turned out to be an obstacle to fire-fighting, 
and in addition the high residential density influ- 
enced the size of the urban fire disaster. 
In thinking about the commercial zoning in both parts 
0f No. 2District, the wooden-framed bui Idings will 
have to be improved in the renewal planning, in view 
of the fact that large numbers of the public were 
gathering in these places at any time of day. 
3)-4. Analytical dynamics of urban information 
(Tables 4,5): 
According to information produced by the fire 
par tment of Kobe, it was clear that Nagata and Nada 
districts had a low level of fire safety. 
369 
    
+ 
Photograph 3. Fireproof Building (Nada District) 
Table 3. Decipherment Rate of Building anf House Type 
(Nada District) 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Building Type | Sample |Decipherment or Not |Rate % 
TF 8 4 4 50 
Wooden- (2) (6) (25) 
Frame 
2F~ 15 f 4 73 
(11) (4) (73) 
~2F 9 7 2 78 
Non- (6) (3) (67) 
Wooden- 
Frame |3F~ 47 41 6 87 
(35) (12) (74) 
Openspace 7 7 0 100 
Area (3) (4) (42) 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
The points considered were the population density, 
the business areas, residential and areas 
where fires had previously occurred, according to the 
data of1985 (Table 4.) 
areas, 
When thinking about some data concerning the 
characteristic district, for example the ratios of 
building type in each district, it was realized that 
the amount of open space was low and the number of 
wooden-framed houses was high in the No. 2 district 
of Nagata and Nada( Table 5.) 
In the event of an urban disaster, the lives of 
citizens would be dependent upon how much open space 
was available. 
International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXI, Part B7. Vienna 1996