Kumamoto Quake Victims Remembered 8 Years On

Jiji Press

13:52 JST, April 14, 2024

Kumamoto (Jiji Press)—A ceremony was held Sunday to remember the 276 victims of a pair of powerful earthquakes that mainly struck Kumamoto Prefecture, southwestern Japan, eight years ago.

About 30 people, including bereaved relatives, attended the ceremony held at a disaster prevention center built adjacent to the Kumamoto prefectural government building in the city of Kumamoto, the prefecture’s capital, in 2023.

At the start of the ceremony, all participants observed a minute of silence. Kumamoto Governor Ikuo Kabashima and others laid flowers for the victims.

“We are resolved to make Kumamoto a place where people can live happily with peace of mind, without forgetting the lessons we learned from the huge sacrifices,” the governor said in a speech.

The annual ceremony had been held at the prefectural government building. This year, the venue was changed to the disaster prevention center, where a memorial has been erected.

A memorial speech by a representative of bereaved relatives was canceled this year, in consideration of the burden on them.

Of the 276 people who lost their lives in Kumamoto Prefecture and neighboring Oita Prefecture due to the quakes, 221 died because of indirect causes related to the disasters.

The foreshock occurred on the night of April 14, 2016, followed by the main shock in the small hours of April 16. Both quakes measured up to the maximum level of 7 on Japan’s seismic intensity scale.

It was the first time that the seismic intensity of 7 was recorded twice in successive seismic activities in the same region.

All people living in temporary housing units in Kumamoto Prefecture had left the residences by March 2023.

The Kumamoto prefectural government held the final meeting of its postdisaster reconstruction headquarters on April 5 this year.