This paper analyzes the building damage inspection in the 2007 Niigata Chuetsu-Oki earthquake and proposes a building damage inspection by disaster victims themselves. It is well known that the building damage is important in estimating the amount of damage brought by disasters. One important type of damage survey is loss evaluation, conducted by local governments for determining the apportionment of money, donations, allotment of temporary housing, and other recovery- related benefits. Despite the existence of guidelines, however, many issues require technical and procedural improvement. Based on the damage inspection data collected by Kashiwazaki officials following the 2007 Niigata Chuetsu-Oki earthquake, we identified key factors hampering the inspection and propose self-inspection as a solution in loss evaluation.

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