Great Hanshin Earthquake- A Day to Remember

Trip Start Jul 27, 2006
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Trip End Ongoing


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Flag of Japan  ,
Thursday, January 17, 2008

At 5:46 on January 17th, 2005 Kobe was hit by the Great Hanshin Earthquake. (Otherwise known in the US as the Kobe Earthquake.) The quake lasted about 20 seconds and registered a 7.2 on the Richter scale. It was the biggest earthquake in Japan since the Great Kanto earthquake in 1923. It's estimated that there were about 6434 deaths from the earthquake, a rather low number in comparison with the Great Kanto earthquake which claimed about 140,000. But what makes the Kobe earthquake significant is the fact that no one suspected it. People predict earthquakes in different regions of Japan, but Kobe was believed to be no where near a fault line and therefore impossible to have an earthquake. Because of this belief, the city was not built to handle an earthquake. They say the after math of the earthquake took more deaths than the quake itself and destroyed a great part of the city. Kobe has spent over $200 billion dollars just to repair the damage, which registered the earthquake in the Guinness Book of World Records for "costliest natural disaster to befall any one country."

Each year a number of different measures are taken to remember the earthquake victims
marking the date
marking the date
. December hosts the famous Luminarie, a light display that you walk through, to remember the earthquake and the reconstruction process. On January 17th of each year memorials take place all over the city to remember the victims. A huge candle display is put up in the park, and commuters stop by on their way to and from work to light a candle in memory of those who died.

My school also took a few memorial measures. Wednesday afternoon the students had an emergency drill, to learn what they should do in similar situations, and they had a seminar on volunteering and helping out in times of need. On Thursday students were allowed only to bring "onigiri" (cold balls of rice) to school, and at lunch time they were forced out onto the school grounds where they ate a pork based soup that they PTA cooked.

This experience was to show them how it felt for the earthquake victims who were forced out of their homes in the middle of winter and had very little to eat or drink. It was the coldest day we had in Japan this year, and the students huddled together with their friends, slurping down the delicious warm soup.

After lunch we also had a small memorial in our gym, but I wasn't able to attend or take pictures because I was busy helping the PTA clean up from lunch and before I knew it, the short ceremony was already over.

Think I should recontract on the program, just so I can see it next year??? Hmm.....
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