As a commemorative work of the five year anniversary of the Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake, Hyogo Prefecture Government planned and executed a project called "Global Assessment of Earthquake Countermeasures". International and domestic experts were assigned to each of 20 items of problems related to the disaster. These experts visited Kobe for several days in 1999, discussed issues with the persons concerned, and collected data and evidences of the earthquake and the countermeasures used after

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... he disaster. On the theme "medical response", there apparently were many problems: search and rescue did not work well; ambulance services system failed; hospitals were damaged and overwhelmed; etc. Taking these precious lessons learned into account, several countermeasure projects were instituted during the last five years. In spite of the limited time and assistant manpower, the assigned experts analyzed and evaluated the progress of the countermeasure projects, identified areas of improvement, and noted the problems that still existed in the affected health/medical community. Details of the assessment of disaster countermeasures after the Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake will be discussed in accordance with their report.