Photo/Illutration People gather at Higashi Yuenchi park on Jan. 17 to remember the victims of the Great Hanshin Earthquake 30 years ago. (Emiko Arimoto)

More than 1,000 memorial events were held Jan. 17 to mark the 30th anniversary of the Great Hanshin Earthquake that claimed around 6,400 lives and reduced much of the port city of Kobe to ruins.

Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako took part in a memorial ceremony held in Kobe.

In his address, Naruhito expressed his condolences on behalf of those who perished and reflected on his past visits to the area with his wife, Empress Masako.

“What is clearly etched in my mind is seeing the disaster victims encouraging and helping each other as they tried to move forward even while facing a difficult reality,” the emperor said.

Naruhito added that he was also encouraged by the efforts of those too young to have experienced the quake to learn about what happened and pass on that information to future generations.

At the Higashi Yuenchi park in Kobe’s Chuo Ward, about 6,500 bamboo and paper lanterns were arranged to spell out in Japanese “Yorisou 1.17.” Event organizers said yorisou, or to stand together, was chosen to express the desire to remember the victims of all natural disasters.

Kobe city government officials said that around 11,000 people had gathered at the site by 7 a.m., an increase from the 6,000 or so of last year.

A Kobe group said that about 1,700 events were scheduled to mark the 30th anniversary. The number was a decrease of about 400 from the 20th anniversary, reflecting the aging of the population and difficulties in finding funding to hold events.

One participant at the Higashi Yuenchi park event was Kiyomi Mabuchi, 68, who came from Tsurugi, Tokushima Prefecture, on the main island of Shikoku, south of Kobe.

Her husband, Hidetaka, then 42, and his parents died in the magnitude-7.3 earthquake.

She and her two sons lived on the second floor of the home. Hidetaka, a truck driver with uncertain working hours, decided to live on the first floor with his parents because he didn’t want to bother his older son who was preparing for senior high school entrance exams at the time. But the first floor collapsed in the quake, killing Hidetaka and his parents.

Mabuchi moved to Tokushima after the disaster, but returned to Kobe with her sons on New Year’s Day and Jan. 17 to visit the graves of their loved ones. She came by herself this year so as to spend more time alone to remember the good times she spent with her husband.

Heavy rains in summer 2023 forced Mabuchi to evacuate from her Tokushima home which was hit by a landslide. Although Mabuchi now lives in a neighboring municipality, she said, “There is nothing I cannot overcome when I think about what happened (30 years ago).”

Another event was held in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, to remember the 1,086 residents who perished.

A monument in a memorial park contains the names of the victims.

Akihiro Saito, 47, came in search of the names of his younger sister, Keiko, and younger brother, Koji.

The six members of his family were living on the first floor of a two-story wooden apartment when the quake hit. The collapsed structure trapped family members. Saito still remembers touching the leg of Koji, then 13, who could barely move after being crushed under furniture.

Saito said his siblings appear in his dreams whenever Jan. 17 approaches.

“I think about what kind of adults they would have become,” Saito said. “My sadness and loneliness has not changed even after 30 years and I think that will not change ever.”

Related News