The state of Japan’s oldest reinforced-concrete apartment building on Hashima, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is deteriorating rapidly, with extensive damage seen to the outer walls and floors. (Eiji Hori)

Photo/Illutration The No. 30 apartment building, center, on Hashima, a World Heritage site, is seen in Nagasaki on Aug. 20. (Eiji Hori)

NAGASAKI--Strong winds, heavy rain and the ravages of time have taken a toll on the nation’s oldest reinforced-concrete apartment building on Hashima island, a UNESCO World Heritage site, which is rapidly crumbling.

But making repairs to preserve the structure, known as the No. 30 building, on the now uninhabited island will be extremely difficult, according to the Nagasaki municipal government.

“We cannot go inside the building for repair and preservation work due to danger of collapse,” a city official said.

The city government said part of the southern section of the building broke apart in late March. The broken area widened during a downpour in the middle of June. It is one of several apartment buildings on the island that once housed thousands of workers and their families.

The island, also known as Gunkanjima (Battleship Island), was once home to the Hashima Coal Mine, an underwater coal mine that contributed to Japan’s modernization.

More than 5,000 people resided on the island, which spans about 1.2 kilometers in circumference, during its peak production period after the Meiji Era (1868-1912).

But all the residents left the island after the coal mine was closed in 1974 and the island was abandoned.

Structures on the island are dilapidated as they were constructed during the first half of the 1900s.

Hashima was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in July 2015, as part of Japan's Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding and Coal Mining.

Related News