Notes (from EEFIT report) this is a typical suburban area where a large number of low-rise timber frame residential and commercial buildings as well as many mainly commercial low-rise steel frame structures could be found, along with low and mid-rise reinforced concrete apartment buildings of varying age.

The survey took place in Nishinomiya and Ashiya along Route No. 2. In this survey every building (including builidngs that were undamaged or slightly damaged) on either side of the raod was photographed. Subsequently details about their construction type, age, damage level and estimated cost of repair were logged into a database. The survey started at the intersection of Route No. 2 with Road No. 82 in the centre of Nishinomiya city and continued westwards for about 6 kilometres, up to the Central Motoyama district in Higashi Nada ward of Kobe. An area of fire damage to a neighbourhood of old timber dwellings was not included because it was imposssible to count the exact number of buildings. Route No. 2 in this stretch runs almost parallel to the shoreline and lies approximately 1000 metres north of the position of the seashore in the 19th century. During the 19th century the survey area lies approx. 2,200 metres from the present-day shoreline. The area lies around 30 metres above sea level and the geology is a diluvium-alluvium transition area, with most of the 6km stretch lying on diluvium. details on the geology of the area are given in BRI (1996). The survey area lies mostly within the JMA intensity 7 zone.