24 Big Cities Removing Block Walls at Schools after Quake Death

June 29, 2018

Tokyo- Following a girl's death when a concrete block wall fell on her in the wake of a major earthquake in Osaka Prefecture last week, 24 major cities across Japan have removed or plan to remove block walls at publicly run elementary and junior high schools, a Jiji Press survey has shown.

The survey covered 20 ordinance-designated cities and 32 prefectural capitals including Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward, where the capital's metropolitan government building is located, and was conducted in three days through Wednesday.

More than half of the surveyed municipal governments have not yet decided their responses to the quake tragedy.

In the Osaka quake, which measured up to lower 6, the third-highest level on the country's seismic intensity scale, the fourth-grader was killed by a collapsed block wall along her school in the Osaka city of Takatsuki. The wall did not meet legal standards.

In the survey, 10 of the 20 designated cities, including the central cities of Nagoya and Niigata, said they have either conducted, started or plan to conduct the removal of substandard and other block walls, including those with cracks.

The city of Saitama, north of Tokyo, told the survey that it has found substandard block walls at 56 elementary schools and 10 junior high schools and plans to remove or renovate them soon.

The southwestern city of Fukuoka has dismantled block walls at four elementary schools and plans to conduct reinforcement work at a total of 79 elementary and junior high schools.

Meanwhile, 14 of the 32 prefectural capitals have started or plan removal and renovation work on block walls. They include Shinjuku and Kofu, Yamanashi Prefecture, as well as Nagano, Gifu, Kofu and Saga, the capitals of the namesake prefectures.

The designated city of Kawasaki, south of Tokyo, said it is difficult to immediately remove block walls at schools, considering their security roles. Jiji Press