Japan Marks 28th Anniversary of Great Hanshin Earthquake

 Kobe, Jan. 17 (Jiji Press)--Japan on Tuesday marked the 28th anniversary of the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake, which hit the country's western region and claimed the lives of 6,434 people.    Bereaved families and others renewed their pledge to pass on lessons from the disaster to the younger generation.    At a park in Kobe, the capital of Hyogo Prefecture, about 48,000 people paid a visit by 9 p.m. (12 p.m. GMT) to take part in a memorial service.    Participants lit bamboo lanterns and observed a moment of silence at 5:46 a.m., the exact time when the 7.3-magnitude quake struck the city and surrounding areas Jan. 17, 1995.    "I don't want to go through a similar experience ever again," Masashi Ueno, 75, said in a speech to represent the bereaved families.    "Those alive now must make good use of the lessons we have learned from the disaster," he said in tears.    Ueno lost his then 20-year-old daughter, Shino, who was attending a local university, in the disaster.    The building in Kobe where she was living collapsed on her while she was in bed. Ueno found her lifeless body among the debris the following day.    Since the disaster, Ueno has given lectures at universities and other places, talking about the daughter, life and death, and the grief of losing children.    The Hyogo prefectural government and others held a memorial ceremony in front of a monument in Kobe.    In a speech, Hyogo Governor Motohiko Saito underlined the importance of constant efforts to remember the disaster, pass down the story and make use of the lessons learned.    Local elementary school child Rio Fukumoto, 12, also read a message, expressing gratitude to those who worked for the reconstruction of affected areas and pledging to pass the story of the disaster to the next generation.    The temblor caused some areas to register the maximum seismic intensity of 7 on the Japanese scale for the first time. The quake left three missing and 43,792 injured, with around 640,000 homes damaged.    About 80 pct of the fatal victims are believed to have been crushed to death. This prompted both the central and local governments to focus on seismic retrofitting. END