Collective memoirs of personal accounts of natural disaster survivors: A case study of the Group for Continuous Documentation of the Great Hanshin Earthquake

Abstract

We examined the 15-year recovery process after a major disaster, through a collection of personal memoirs of the survivors of the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, edited by the Group for Continuous Documentation of the Great Hanshin Earthquake. Through their social construction of the concepts of “disaster” and “survivor,” we uncovered diverse and unique accounts of the survival experience that can only be told by the survivors themselves. In general, the contents of the memoirs converge on a common theme, and as a result, it is difficult to find diversity in their accounts. Despite this, the particular collection consisted of a wide range of content, due to the fact that the editor and writers engaged in an interactive, mutual process of co-construction of the disaster account. This collaboration allowed the writer to re-construct the disaster experience more vividly, and hence, the accounts were more personal in nature, and less the prototypical. This re-construction process of personal experiences resulted in connectivity amongst survivors, and helped them to disseminate what they had actually experienced in a more detailed and personalized manner.View full abstract