HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 95-4606, by Representatives Tokuda, Brumsickle, Ballard, Romero, Valle, Wolfe, Buck, Mason, Hatfield, Grant, Mielke, Sommers, Poulsen, Schoesler, Campbell, Veloria, Blanton, L. Thomas, Pelesky, Hargrove, Casada, Silver, Stevens, McMahan, Hankins, Hickel, Radcliff, Sheahan, Goldsmith, Beeksma, McMorris, Robertson, Lambert, Horn, Ogden, Rust, Van Luven, Dyer, Carlson, Benton, Cooke, Costa, Koster, Conway and D. Schmidt

     WHEREAS, On January 17, 1995, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 on the Richter scale ravaged Kobe, Japan's sixth largest city, killing several thousand people and injuring thousands more; and

     WHEREAS, The 20 second quake, the worst to hit a metropolitan area in Japan in nearly half a century, flattened over 7,000 buildings and homes, set off raging fires, and annihilated vital infrastructure such as train lines, power, and communications throughout the city; and

     WHEREAS, While Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama has sent some 2,000 troops to the area, and earmarked one billion dollars for emergency relief measures, today there is only enough water in the city to supply a third of the 140,000 people left homeless by the quake, who are also in immediate need of food and shelter; and

     WHEREAS, Kobe, a vital port city and commercial hub with a population of 1.4 million people, became Seattle, Washington's first sister city in 1957, paving the way for nine other Washington cities to develop their own ties with cities in Japan; and

     WHEREAS, Kobe is located in Hyogo Prefecture, the state-equivalent in Japan which shares a sister relationship with Washington state; and

     WHEREAS, Valuable, long-standing trade relations and personal friendships among residents of Japan and Washington state cause the devastating grief of this disaster to be shared among all the people of our state; and

     WHEREAS, Residents, business leaders, and charitable organizations in Washington state currently are joining the national and international efforts to provide humanitarian aid to residents of Kobe, a once-beautiful city which has been reduced to the kind of rubble and carnage usually only seen in war-torn areas;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the State of Washington join in the process of assisting the people of Kobe and its outlying areas by facilitating the ongoing relief effort in any way possible.

      I hereby certify this to be a true and correct copy of

      Resolution 4606 adopted by the House of Representatives

                         January 20, 1995.

                 ________________________________

                  Timothy A. Martin, Chief Clerk