25 years since the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake Words of Mr. Akishinomiya (full text) January 17, 16:55
At a memorial ceremony held at the Hyogo Prefectural Office in Chuo-ku, Kobe, Akishinomiya spoke the following words.
"Twenty-five years have passed since the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. Here we offer our deepest condolences to the spirits of the people who died in the earthquake. It collapsed, killing more than 6,400 irreplaceable lives.
I visited this place many times after the earthquake, and each time, the victims and the people of Hyogo Prefecture were united and encouraged to help each other, despite the difficult situation. I was deeply impressed that, with a lot of volunteers from all over the country, I was working hard to restore the beautiful cityscape.
Until now, citizens of the prefecture, organizations, and the government have worked together to overcome many difficulties and make efforts to create a community that is resistant to disasters in terms of both hardware and software. Utilizing international disaster prevention and humanitarian assistance organizations accumulated in the prefecture, we have also contributed to strengthening disaster prevention systems in countries and regions around the world, such as transmitting the lessons of the earthquake to the world through international conferences.
Even after the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, major natural disasters have occurred in various places, including the Great East Japan Earthquake. It is very significant that every time Hyogo Prefecture, including many volunteers and support staff, rushed to the site and stayed close to the victims, taking advantage of their own experiences and lessons learned from the earthquake. I think.
Twenty-five years have passed since the earthquake, and the number of generations who have not experienced the earthquake in this area has increased, so we have heard that they are promoting initiatives to "do not weather the earthquake". Among them, it is very encouraging that generations who have not experienced the earthquake are particularly engaged in disaster prevention and disaster reduction activities while actively learning about the disaster and disaster prevention and reduction.
In the future, based on the experience and lessons learned from the earthquake, we hope that people will help each other to create safe and secure communities, and that their knowledge will be spread both inside and outside the country, and that it will be passed on to generations. We are.
In closing, I sincerely pray for the souls of the deceased and make it a memorial. "