Photo/Illutration The Kumamoto prefectural government holds a memorial ceremony to mark the fifth anniversary of the 2016 earthquakes that hit the region and claimed nearly 300 lives on April 14. (Shoma Fujiwaki)

KUMAMOTO--The prefectural government here on April 14 held a memorial ceremony to mark the fifth anniversary of the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquakes that killed nearly 300 people, which was streamed live over the internet for the first time.

Due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, the annual ceremony was scaled down and the number of attendees limited, the same as last year.

The service started at 10 a.m. at the Kumamoto prefectural government’s building in Kumamoto.

Thirty-four people, including those who lost their loved ones in the quakes, attended and offered a prayer.

As of March this year, 418 people, or 150 households, are still living in temporary housing.

“We are determined not to leave anybody behind and will continue to support until the last person returns to a normal life,” Kumamoto Governor Ikuo Kabashima said at the ceremony.

The region was hit by a major quake at 9:26 p.m. on April 14, 2016. Nine people died after being pinned under collapsed houses and other buildings.

That was followed by an even more powerful quake that struck the region at 1:25 a.m. on April 16, while many residents were staying in evacuation centers and sleeping in their cars because of the first quake.

Many houses collapsed and landslides occurred. Forty-one people died in the second “main” quake.

It was the first and only time on record that an earthquake with a seismic intensity of 7 on the Japanese scale of 7 hit the same region twice within two days. 

In all, 276 people died in Kumamoto and Oita prefectures, including 226 quake-related deaths.

More than 200,000 houses were partially damaged or destroyed.

At the ceremony, Kabashima also mentioned transportation infrastructure including a state road and the JR Hohi Line that were damaged by the quakes had been restored and resumed operations by the fall of 2020.

“It is also our important responsibility to keep telling our experiences with the earthquake to future generations to prevent and reduce disasters at home and abroad,” he said.

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