Kumamoto Prefecture marked the 10th anniversary of the deadly 2016 earthquakes on Thursday with a commemoration ceremony. Families and officials observed a moment of silence for the 278 victims, as the governor and Chief Cabinet Secretary pledged to pass on lessons learned. The back-to-back quakes caused extensive damage.
Kumamoto Prefecture held its first jointly hosted commemoration ceremony by the prefectural government and all municipalities in Kumamoto City. At 1:25 a.m.—the exact time of the magnitude 7.3 quake that registered 7 on Japan's seismic intensity scale—attendees observed a moment of silence for the 278 deceased. The quake followed a magnitude 6.5 temblor two days earlier, with deaths in Kumamoto and Oita prefectures; 223, or about 80%, were indirect causes like illness from disrupted lives.
Kumamoto Gov. Takashi Kimura said at the ceremony, "We must never forget the precious lives lost and the many sacrifices made. We shall pass these memories on to the next generation, ensuring that they never fade."
Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara pledged efforts to make Japan "the world's most disaster-resilient country" by leveraging lessons from past disasters. About 250 people, including bereaved families, attended and prayed for the deceased.
The quakes damaged over 43,000 buildings and forced around 196,000 to evacuate at peak. Infrastructure suffered severely, with the Aso Ohashi Bridge in Minamiaso Village collapsing and a JR Kyushu railway line severed. Shinobu Yamato, 58, visited the site near the bridge where her 22-year-old son Hikaru died in a landslide. "It fills me with such agony and regret to think that he might have made it without passing through here had the timing been slightly different," she said in tears.
Kumamoto Castle, a major tourist site, saw significant damage to its stone walls. Repairs are expected to complete in fiscal 2052.
