The western Japan city of Kobe on Tuesday marked the 28th anniversary of the magnitude 7.3 earthquake that took 6,434 lives, with its first ceremony in three years at a pre-pandemic scale. Residents and victims' families observed a moment of silence at 5:46 a.m., the same time the Great Hanshin…
A woman prays before bamboo lanterns at Kobe East Park in Kobe on Jan. 17. (The Asahi Shimbun)
KOBE Mourners on Jan. 17 prayed for victims of the devastating Great Hanshin Earthquake 26 years ago as many remembrance ceremonies were scaled back and preventive measures taken due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The earthquake claimed 6,434 lives, mainly in Hyogo Prefecture, one of the prefectures now under the COVID-19 state of emergency.
At Kobe East Park in Kobe’s Chuo Ward, an annual memorial ceremony started a day earlier to prevent close contact among participants.
About 8,000 bamboo and paper lanterns, arranged to form the characters for “Ganbaro” (Let’s hang in there together), were lit up at 5:46 p.m., exactly 12 hours to the time the temblor struck, and mourners offered prayers.