In this paper, regional characteristics of human injury, i.e., the spatial distribution of fatalities and the state of disaster victims taking refuge in school shelters, caused by the Hanshin-Awaji Great Earthquake Disaster, were investigated based on statistical and survey data of severely damaged areas and their surroundings in Kobe City. The occurrence of fatalities was concentrated in those areas where socially vulnerable people, such as the aged, females and those living alone, were relatively numerous. Catastrophically severe damage was also concentrated in the so-called inner-city areas just outside the city core of Kobe, where masses of tiny old wooden dwellings and small businesses were densely packed. Thus, the earthquake revealed one of the problematic weak points of contemporary mega-city regions in Japan.<br> Among these heavily damaged inner-city areas, however, there were some exceptional cases, , such as the Mano district in Nagata Ward, where citizens' initiatives succeeded in keeping fires from spreading and in minimizing human injury by means of mutual rescue actions. Neighborhood social ties, preserved through the people's activities against environmental pollution in this district for many years, played a great role not only in reducing human injuries but also in the process of reconstruction of the district.<br> Immediately after the earthquake, in the early morning of January 17, 1995, most survivors sought shelter in their neighborhood and rushed to public schools. Although the public (elementary and secondary) schools had been designated officially as shelters for disaster refugees in the municipaldisaster prevention schemes, most of them in reality were not sufficiently prepared to accept such a huge number of disaster refugees.<br> Nevertheless, the public schools played an important role as an irreplaceable public space inside each communal territory open for each calamity victim. School teachers had to face various difficulties in managing emergency shelters and also in continuing the original education systems. Several types of situation were recognized among refugees in school shelters in different stages. In addition to the degree of injury damage sufferd, one important factor in their situation was the cooperation between refugees' representatives and the municipal personnel in each shelter. Teachers' roles as conflict mediators between them were very delicate and indispensable in most of the school shelters. These experiences of teachers in cooperation and solidarity with neighboring community citizens undergone during rescue activities in emergency school shelters, will become an essential foundation not only for the reconstruction of damaged communities, but also in teaching social studies to children.