In 1995, the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake struck Kobe City and the surrounding urban area, killing 6,434 people. This massive inland earthquake made it clear how devastating a natural disaster could be and how weak people and society were against it. Born from this profound shock were a family of think tanks based here in HAT Kobe.

One of them is the Hyogo Earthquake Memorial 21st Century Research Institute (Hem21). While operating the Research Strategy Center, Hem21 has two major lower organizations that serve as “two wheels” to advance its activities: the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake Memorial Disaster Reduction and Human Renovation Institution (jointly invested by the national government and Hyogo Prefecture) and the Hyogo Institute for Traumatic Stress.

To put it briefly, the purpose of Hem21 is to protect people from future natural disasters. This policy-oriented, practical-minded think tank conducts research on natural disasters, which occur one after another in Japan and abroad, and considers how to make urban areas safe and secure to live in and how to contribute to building a 21st century civilization that features intercultural cohesion.

Residing together in HAT Kobe, about 20 international bodies, research institutions, and specialized agencies, including a liaison office of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, form the Disaster Reduction Alliance (DRA), collaborating with each other to tackle issues of human society.

For the time being, the Japanese archipelago will remain in an era of catastrophic disasters: torrential rains caused by global warming in addition to earthquakes due to diastrophism. It is unwise to wait until a catastrophe comes and take a reactive approach while murmuring that such a dire disaster was beyond expectations. Based on scientific findings, we will pursue our research to minimize possible damage from Nankai Trough earthquakes and Tokyo inland earthquakes, which are expected to occur in the near future.