Hiroshima remembers 2014 landslide

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:27 JST, August 21, 2022

HIROSHIMA — Memorial services were held in various locations on Saturday marking the eighth anniversary of the Hiroshima landslide disaster that claimed 77 lives.

The landslides occurred in Asa-Kita and Asa-Minami wards in Hiroshima City in the early hours of Aug. 20, 2014. A total of 77 people, including three disaster-related deaths, were killed when they were caught in mudslides and landslides caused by heavy rainfall from linear precipitation bands formed by cumulonimbus clouds.

Local residents lined up 200 paper lanterns to display “8.20” and pray for the victims at a plaza near an erosion control dam in Asa-Minami Ward that was completed after the disaster.

The lanterns were inscribed with the names of the five people who died in the area, and residents pledged to always remember the victims.

Residents lit candles and observed a moment of silence from around 6:00 p.m.