Thursday marked the 30th anniversary of the volcanic disaster at Mt. Fugen in the Unzen mountain range in Nagasaki Prefecture, which left 43 people dead or missing.
Offering prayers for the victims, about 150 people including bereaved family members and those from fire departments and local governments attended a memorial ceremony held in Shimabara in the prefecture.
Mt. Fugen volcano erupted on June 3, 1991, causing massive pyroclastic flows. Twelve firefighters and two police officers, who were posted as guards at the base of Mt. Fugen in the Kamikoba district in Shimabara, as well as six residents, three volcano scholars, 16 media personnel and four taxi drivers are known or thought to have died in the pyroclastic flows.
Every fifth year a larger observance is held, but this year the event was scaled back due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Participants prayed silently at a ceremony held outdoors in front of a monument commemorating the victims at Nita Danchi Daiichi Koen park in Nitamachi, Shimabara.
"I would like to pass on the experiences of the disaster to future generations," Shimabara Mayor Ryuzaburo Furukawa said at the ceremony as rain fell.
Sumi Omachi, 64, who lost her husband Yasuo when he was 37, spoke on behalf of the bereaved families.
"We have to do our best so that the history of this disaster will not fade," Omachi said. "And we will make further efforts to develop a community where residents can live in the vicinity of volcanoes."
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