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| With the approach of the 10th
year after the Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, "January
17th Message" were gathered to encourage
an exchange of feelings on "January 17th"
Over 1,000 messages were received.Here are some
of the messages from the earthquake-stricken
area. |
At that time people wearing
drab colorless clothes with rucksacks
on the backs walked silently in lines
along national Route 2. They looked at
the collapsed houses as they went, occasionally
some people stopped to join their hands
and offer a prayer.
In order to create a strong and caring
community and overcome the chagrin of
the more than 6,400 lost souls, I now
move positively and strongly towards the
future.
Male (Ashiya City, Hyogo Prefecture) |
Many volunteers eagerly rushed
to our aid. They came overnight from afar,
worked hard without meals. They rolled
themselves up in cardboard boxes and slept
till dawn, and though they were tired,
they carried water up the hill for us.
The warm pork soup warmed our frozen hearts.
Through their kindness I have been able
to recover. I shall never forget this
kindness.
Female (Ashiya City, Hyogo Prefecture) |
On that day, I was living
alone and was totally at a loss as to
what to do. I wish to thank those who
shared their bread with me and provided
me with somewhere to live. I intend to
cherish the experiences I had then of
the importance of people supporting each
other and living together. Today I am
working as a public health nurse.
Female (Kawanishi City, Hyogo Prefecture) |
More than anything else
I remember the volunteers who came to
help us. At that time I was still an elementary
school student. The volunteers performed
magic and played games with us.
At that time, it was the volunteers who
supported me, who kept me going. I really
want to thank them.
I am now a university student and am thinking
of working in social welfare.
Female (Kobe City) |
Each of us should never
forget that we were supported by society,
supported by those around us, and the
encouragement we received at that time.
Male (Kobe City) |
When the earthquake happened
I was working as a nurse at a hospital.
However, it resembled a battlefield more
than a hospital. There was no medical
equipment, there were people who needed
aid but couldn't receive it. I felt I
had seen the limits of human endurance.
However, I also saw the warmth of humanity
when supplies rushed in from foreign countries.
Female (Kobe City) |
|
Literary works were gathered
on the theme "Memories of the Earthquake
and Setting Forht". Here are some of them.
|
Poem
"What Must Be Passed On"
~ Around Sannomiya Station, Kobe ~
Someone had left them for someone
10 yen coins on a public phone.
Someone may leave them for others.
Not decreasing, the pile of 10 yen coins.
Someone for the sake of others
Directed traffic at a junction with faulty signals.
Someone thinking about someone,
With firm determination carries as much water
as they can
Walks along railway tracks through the night
as aftershocks continue.
All I did was stare on.
My eyes could not leave the scene.
On that day, maybe someone, somewhere in the
world,
Wanted to do something
For someone they did not know.
In response to those thoughts and efforts that
reached us
This city has recovered and
This year is enveloped in gorgeous light.
The earthquake that robbed us of so much
Has left us with these wonderful things.
Emi Fujiwara (Itami City)
An Account
Under the "Luminarie" Illumination
Every yearend, among the long lines that wait
on the first day for the lighting up of the
earthquake-stricken area's memorial illumination
event "Kobe Luminarie", there are
figures I always look for.
Ten years ago, the Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake
destroyed the city I have always lived in. The
earthquake left the disaster-stricken area a
lonely dark place at night because the number
of electric lights in buildings and homes were
so few. In the darkness between the high buildings
in the Old Foreigner's Settlement in Kobe a
mixture of insecurity and expectation arose.
In the huge crowd that lined up around me were
three old women holding hands. They were chatting
excitedly because they had not met in a long
time. They were friendly neighbors who had lost
their families in the earthquake and were now
left all alone. It seemed they were now all
living far apart in temporary housing outside
the city or in their house that was spared from
the destruction of the earthquake and sat alone
among the debris in the earthquake-hit area.
They felt it would have been better to have
died in the earthquake than bear the loneliness
and purposeless in living. Just then like the
tide receding, the hum and bustle of the crown
ceased. After a moment of silence, the whole
place lit up. The dark street became a heaven
of light. The multicolored lights played on
each other creating a wonderful illumination
that shone down on the old ladies faces as they
looked up. Overcome with emotion, tears rolled
down their cheeks. "I'm happy we survived!"
they said in unison to each other. The people
around them were taken in by this emotional
scene and began to cry, too. Because we survived
we were able to experience the warmth of the
"Luminarie" light which soothed our bodies
and minds. The event not only celebrates the
memory of those who lost their lives in the
earthquake but also encourages and gives strength
to live to those who survived.
I turned around, looking tonight for the same
silhouette figures as that nig.......
I found them. The three old ladies looking healthy
and in good spirits.
Kunihiro Nakajima (Kobe City) |
![[写真]笑顔](../images/head_img01.jpg)
