Japan’s Chuetsu Earthquake Victims Remembered 20 Years On; 68 Victims Mourned on the Anniversary in Niigata Prefecture

The Yomiuri Shimbun

6:00 JST, October 24, 2024

NAGAOKA, Niigata — Wednesday marked the 20th anniversary of the Niigata Prefecture Chuetsu Earthquake that claimed 68 lives.

People offered flowers at Myoken Memorial Park in Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture, near the site where a woman and her two children were buried alive in a landslide, and one of the children, then 2, was rescued four days later.

“It’s a painful memory that we must not forget,” said a 53-year-old Sapporo civil servant who had helped with the restoration of the local sewage system the year after the quake. The quake marked the highest level on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of seven. The civil servant added, “I am in charge of disaster prevention work now, and I want to keep this disaster in mind.”