Sixteen years have passed since a devastating earthquake hit Kobe on Jan. 17, 1995, killing 6,434 people and injuring some 44,000 others. In 2010, the Hyogo prefectural government and the Kobe city government for the first time designated 328 people as having become disabled due to the quake. But 121 have since died.
Some 40 percent of Kobe's residents have either been born in the city or moved to it since the earthquake. Since they did not experience the quake, it is all the more important to hand down the experience to them and improve anti-disaster education.
The Japanese should not forget that many people are still suffering from the damage caused by the earthquake. More than 50,000 people borrowed disaster relief loans in Hyogo Prefecture. Although it was originally expected that they would pay back the loans in 10 years, more than 10,000 people had yet to repay them as of the end of March 2010.