Today is 2015 January 17th…the 20th anniversary of the huge 1995 January 17th earthquake in 神戸 (Kobe), Japan.
I’ve experienced many earthquakes since I came to Japan in 1990…but only two that were big enough to destroy a city:
the 1995 Jan 17th Kobe Earthquake, and
the 2011 Mar 11th Sendai Earthquake and Tsunami.
Memorial ceremony in Kobe for victims of the 1995 Jan 17th earthquake. (Photo © Getty Images)
I never want to experience such a massive natural disaster ever again!
Yesterday was the fifteenth anniversary of the 阪神淡路大震災 (Kobe Earthquake).
It was a level 7 earthquake that flatten the Kobe area of Japan and killed over 6,000 people.
Click here to read the post that I wrote about the fourteenth anniversary of this quake last year.
And one year earlier, in 1994, an earthquake hit southern California in America.
Both the California earthquake and the Kobe earthquake happened on January 17th…only a year apart.
Of course everyone knows about the recent earthquake in Haiti last Tuesday.
Hopefully that country can recover from the damage soon.
I hate earthquakes but they’re a fact of life in this part of the world.
Growing up in Florida I never experienced an earthquake until I came to Japan.
The fifteenth anniversary of the Kobe, Japan earthquake and the sixteenth anniversary of the California one…as well as last week’s quake in Haiti made me remember the major earthquakes that happened around the world in the twenty years since I came to Japan.
Do you remember:
△ 1990 June – a level 7 earthquake killed about 50,000 people in Iran,
△ 1991 October – a level 6.8 earthquake killed about 2,000 people in India,
△ 1992 December – a level 7.8 earthquake killed about 2,500 people in Indonesia,
△ 1993 September – a level 6 earthquake killed about 9,700 people in India,
△ 1994 January 17 – a level 6.8 earthquake killed about 60 people in California, USA,
△ 1995 January 17 – a level 7 earthquake killed about 6,000 people in Kobe, Japan,
△ 1996 February – a level 6 earthquake killed about 300 people in China,
△ 1997 May – a level 7 earthquake killed about 1,500 people in Iran,
△ 1998 May – a level 6.6 earthquake killed about 4,000 people in Afghanistan,
△ 1999 August – a level 7.6 earthquake killed about 17,000 people in Turkey,
△ 2000 June – a level 7.9 earthquake killed about 100 people in Indonesia,
△ 2001 January – a level 7.7 earthquake killed about 20,000 people in India,
△ 2002 March – a level 6 earthquake killed about 1,000 people in Afghanistan,
△ 2003 September 25 – a level 8.3 earthquake killed zero people in Hokkaido, Japan,
△ 2003 December 26 – a level 6.6 earthquake killed about 31,000 people in Iran,
△ 2004 December 26 – a level 9 earthquake killed about 228,000 people in Sumatra,
△ 2005 March 28- a level 8.6 earthquake killed about 1,300 people in Sumatra,
△ 2005 October – a level 7.6 earthquake killed about 80,000 people in Pakistan,
△ 2006 May – a level 6 earthquake killed about 5,700 people in Indonesia,
△ 2007 August – a level 8 earthquake killed about 500 people in Peru,
△ 2008 May – a level 7.9 earthquake killed about 87,500 people in China,
△ 2009 September – a level 7.5 earthquake killed about 1,100 people in Indonesia,
△ 2010 January 12 – a level 7 earthquake in Haiti (death toll currently unknown).
Have you ever experienced an 地震 (earthquake)?
I wrote a post on 15 June about the giant 18-meter (59-feet) tall Gundam robot in Tokyo (Click here to read it.).
But soon it won’t be the only 18-meter tall robot in Japan…in August, construction is set to begin in 神戸 (Kobe, Japan) on an 18-meter tall 「鉄人２８号」 (“Iron Man #28“).
The Gundam robot in Tokyo is temporary and will be removed next month (August 2009). But the 「鉄人２８号」 (“Iron Man #28“) statue is set to be completed in October 2009…and will remain there permanently.
The reason that this statue will be in 神戸 (Kobe) is because the creator of the 「鉄人２８号」 (“Iron Man #28“) manga, Mitsuteru Yokoyama, was born in 神戸 (Kobe) in 1934 and he died in 東京 (Tokyo) in 2004…so this statue is a tribute to him.
The story of 「鉄人２８号」 (“Iron Man #28“) is about a Japanese scientist who tries to make a giant robot to help Japan win World War 2. His first twenty-seven attempts weren’t successful…but the 28th one was. But by the time the scientist created the 28th Iron Man robot, Japan had already surrendered and the war was over. So he gave the 18-meter robot to his son, who used it as a crime-fighting robot.
The 「鉄人２８号」 (“Iron Man #28“) manga debuted in 1956 and some people say that the American comic book character “Iron Man“, which debuted in 1963 was an uncredited copy of the Japanese character.
Fourteen years ago today, on Tuesday, January 17, 1995 at 午前５時４６分 (5:46AM JST), the 阪神淡路大震災 (Kobe Earthquake) struck the Western Japan city of 兵庫県神戸市 (Kobe in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan).
It registered as a 震度７ (Level 7 on the Japanese Shindo scale*). I hope I never experience a major earthquake like that! (The small earthquakes are bad enough).
(* Japan uses the 震度 (Shindo earthquake scale) (震度７ (Level 7) is the highest) rather than the Richter Scale).
Tokyo Five 
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