The July 16 earthquake off Niigata Prefecture pointed to the need to make homes quake-resistant. The quake flattened more than 300 houses, and most of the deaths occurred when people were pinned down by structures. School buildings, including gyms, also must be made quake-resistant, especially because they serve as public evacuation facilities after a major earthquake.
In Niigata and Nagano prefectures, buildings at 272 publicly run elementary and middle schools were damaged. At an elementary school in Kashiwazaki, Niigata Prefecture, the gym ceiling came down and electricity and city water were cut off. Arriving evacuees had to be led to another facility, a middle school.
According to an April 1, 2007, survey by the education ministry, of the 3,247 publicly run elementary and middle school buildings in Niigata and Nagano prefectures, 1,630 (50.2 percent) in Niigata and 2,761 (66.9 percent) in Nagano were rated quake-resistant.