JAPAN: Japan prepares for a possible big quake as Kobe marks 11th anniversary.

Record ID: 468098

  • Title: JAPAN: Japan prepares for a possible big quake as Kobe marks 11th anniversary.
  • Date: 17th January 2006
  • Summary: (ASIA) TOKYO, JAPAN (FILE) (REUTERS) AERIAL SHOTS OF DEVASTATED KOBE SHORTLY AFTER 1995 EARTHQUAKE KOBE FREEWAYS KNOCKED DOWN BY EARTHQUAKE
  • Embargoed: 1st February 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
  • Reuters ID: LVA9K9OTSHCEMXGFZCHDN7TSDHBA
  • Story Text: Tearful mourners lit candles and prayed in silence in the western Japanese city of Kobe on Tuesday (January 17) on the 11th anniversary of a devastating earthquake, while others held drills to try to prepare themselves for the next big quake.
    A pre-dawn 7.3 magnitude earthquake killed more than 6,400 people in Kobe in 1995 and shook the faith of many Japanese in the country's earthquake precautions by toppling buildings that were supposed to have been quake-proof.
    Tuesday's vigil in Kobe started at 5:46 a.m. (2046 GMT Monday) - the exact time the quake shook the area 11 years ago.
    Disaster drills around the country tried to prepare people for the next big earthquake.
    In a drill at Tokyo's Roppongi Hills, a sprawling, 54-story business and shopping complex where 20,000 people work and 110,000 people visit daily, participants took part in a high-altitude rescue operation, crawled through a room filled with smoke and practised mouth-to-mouth resuscitation using mannequins.
    "There are predictions that Tokyo will be hit with a huge earthquake soon," said Shuichi Sano, a Roppongi Hills official who organised the event. "We need drills like these to make sure people don't panic when an earthquake comes."
    Miki Ogawa, a 28-year-old sales clerk, said she felt better prepared after being inside an experimental booth that simulated the experience of a big earthquake.
    "I just couldn't think anything, she said. "All I could do was crouch under a table today. I couldn't do anything else. "
    Last year, the Tokyo Metropolitan government said that an earthquake in Tokyo of the same magnitude of the one that hit Kobe would probably kill 11,000 people and cause more than $1 trillion in economic damage.
    Japan is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries, with a tremor occurring at least every five minutes.
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