Kobe marks quarter-century anniversary of massive quake disaster

The western Japan city of Kobe and its vicinity on Friday marked the 25th anniversary of the magnitude 7.3 earthquake that claimed the lives of 6,434 people.Local residents and victims' families observed a moment of silence at 5:46 a.m., the moment the Great Hanshin Earthquake struck the port city in Hyogo Prefecture and neighboring areas on Jan. 17, 1995.At a memorial event held at Higashi Yuenchi, a park in Kobe, the city worst affected by the disaster, people lit some 5,000 bamboo lanterns that were aligned to form "1.17," the date of the disaster."When I close my eyes, I can hear my mot…READ FULL ARTICLE