KOBE (Kyodo) Kobe and nearby cities devastated in the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake commemorated on Sunday the 15th anniversary of the disaster that claimed 6,434 lives.
People gathered before dawn in a park in the center of Kobe to light thousands of bamboo lanterns in the shape of "1995" and "1.17" and offered silent prayers at 5:46 a.m., the time the magnitude 7.3 quake struck.
Kiyomi Mabuchi, 53, whose husband and in-laws were killed when their house collapsed, came from Tokushima Prefecture to mourn at Higashi-Yuenchi Park, while her 30-year-old son, whose birthday is on the quake anniversary, stayed at home.