An exhibition of photographs by Ryuji Miyamoto, currently on view at Amador Gallery, is haunting in its detached yet emotionally charged view of the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995. According to the Japan Policy Research Institute, the 7.2 magnitude quake "hit the Kobe area at 5:46 a.m. on January 17, leaving in its wake more than 5,200 deaths, 30,000 injured, 300,000 homeless, and 110,000 buildings damaged. The worst quake to hit Japan since the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, which killed 143,000 people, the recent tremor has provoked considerable discussion in Japan and abroad about lessons to be learned."

As I was looking around for information about the earthquake and its aftermath, in particular seeking to understand if lessons had in fact been learned from the devastation, I found an editorial by Robert Duffy, Associate Editor of the St. Louis Beacon earlier this year that offers a bleak perspective on the inability of governments and large organizations to respond quickly and effectively to disasters.

Ryuji Miyamoto, left to right: San-no-miya, Kobe, 1995; Nagata-ku, Kobe, 1995; San-no-miya, Chuo-ku, 1995. Copyright the artist, courtesy Amador Gallery.

A reporter on assignment in Japan a month after the 1995 earthquake, Duffy later wrote, "the destruction and anguish of the Great Hanshin Earthquake of the previous month were [still] heartbreakingly evident. Multi-story buildings were crushed into pancake stacks; tall buildings leaned precariously over busy streets; others were cleaved as if attacked by some mad giant chef. We walked through a neighborhood that was obliterated, destroyed by a fire precipitated by the shaking. What remained were signs indicating where an occupant might be found, and poignant reminders of previous residents: a doll, a teapot, a pair of worn trousers, a vase."

Duffy's article is brief but expansive in it's coverage of the instances in which effective disaster relief has made a significant difference, in particular the work of Japanese architect Shigeru Ban. His ingenious designs for housing made of cardboard tubes normally used for pouring concrete columns, and colorful Kirin beer cartons, became a cardboard city complete with a soaring chapel in Kobe. Ban, Duffy reports, continued to create structures for people made homeless by the Rwanda genocide and by earthquakes in Turkey and India, even as he designed buildings for his well-heeled clients in Japan.

Ryuji Miyamoto, who is known mainly for the photographs that can be seen now at Amador Gallery, has used the theme of destruction and rebuilding throughout his career, notably his documentation of the demolition of the Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong in 1993. His photographs of Ban's cardboard houses for Kobe was published in Japan in 2003; the out-of-print book has since become a classic. In addition to the earthquake photographs, Miyamoto's recent series The grass, bugs and sea are also on view. These unique photograms, stark black and white evocations of the life that has taken hold on the site of the 1995 earthquake, were made during the last few years.

Ryuji Miyamoto: Kobe continues at Amador Gallery through May 8. The Fuller Building, 6^th Floor, 41 East 57^th Street, New York, NY. 212.759.6740.

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