KOBE -- Families of the victims and others offered prayers throughout Hyogo Prefecture on Sunday in commemoration of the 26th anniversary of the Great Hanshin Earthquake that killed 6,434 people.
Amid the state of emergency due to a surge in coronavirus infections, people wearing masks observed a moment of silence at the main memorial event held by the Kobe city government and other entities at Kobe East Park in the city's Chuo Ward at 5:46 a.m., the time when the earthquake struck the prefecture and surrounding areas in 1995.
To prevent crowding at the park, for the first time the start of the event that includes lighting lanterns was moved up by half a day to Saturday evening. Organizers called for people to stagger their visits to the venue, and there were no speeches by representatives of families of the victims and no condolence books were set out.
Many places throughout the prefecture either canceled or scaled down their memorial events.
The "1.17 gathering" memorial event in Kobe is usually held in the early morning of Jan. 17 with about 50,000 in attendance. To thin the crowds, the event was started earlier for the first time.
At 5:46 p.m. on Saturday, half a day before the earthquake hit, the bereaved families and others wearing masks observed a moment of silence and lit lanterns, some of which spelled out the word "Ganbarou" (Hang in there), which has been the slogan for reconstruction efforts.
This year, sufficient amounts of bamboo could not be secured due to the pandemic. To make up for the shortfall, paper lanterns inscribed with messages such as "We will defeat the coronavirus" and "We will pass on [lessons from the earthquake] to future generations" were used.
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