TOKYO (Sputnik) – Participants observed a moment of silence honoring the 6,434 victims of the 1995 magnitude 7.2 quake, according to Japan’s NHK broadcaster.
Officials said around 9,000 people took part in the annual early morning event to mark the time when the Kobe earthquake had struck, 5,000 fewer than last year.
Some 60 events, memorial services and disaster drills among them, were said to be planned throughout Sunday, the lowest figure in over 10 years.
Japan experiences a tremor every five minutes and around every fifth of the world’s earthquakes measuring 6 on the Richter scale or higher hit the Southeast Asian country.