Fires ravage entire neighborhoods hours after the quake. Photos by Kyodo News.
Community Comments and Contributions
On this page are shorter comments, emails, images and videos submitted by a variety of different contributors. Thank you for sharing.
Video & comment by NICK & KAZUE RUSSELL:
Video by ALIM AZZOUZ to commemorate the 21st anniversary of the quake:
- https://www.facebook.com/watch/?t=44&v=1302388423165554
- featuring interviews with Kobe residents BRIAN WYLIE, MONA SADHWANI,
AMY JO SHAPIRO, PURVI JHAVERI and NSENDA LUKUMWENA
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Comment by MICHAEL BRUSSARD (posted on FaceBook on January 17, 2018):
Thinking back 23 years ago today since the Great Hanshin Earthquake hit in Kobe Japan at 5:46 AM and claimed the lives of 6,434. The only American among those that perished was Miss Vonnie Wong from California; she was my work colleague and dear friend! My thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected by this tragedy so many years ago. You are NOT forgotten! This picture is from the Luminary that was started the year after the earthquake and continues every year in January to honor and remember those that survived and those that did not. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers today!
Comment by FOSTER THORBJORNSEN:
Voni Lynn Wong, age 24, was the only officially confirmed American fatality. She was crushed sleeping in her bed in her home in Ashiya. Ms. Wong graduated magna cum laude with a degree in English from the University of California at Los Angeles, and worked in Japan as an English teacher.
“For most of her 24 years, Voni Lynn Wong had luck on her side. Just 12 days before the terrifying Northridge earthquake rocked her native Los Angeles a year ago, the UCLA graduate moved to Japan to teach English. But it wasn’t long before her fortunes reversed. Last October, Wong was turned out from her house in the hills above Kobe, Japan, over a misunderstanding when she refused a job as nanny to her landlord’s son, whom she was tutoring in English. After the landlord threw her belongings into the street, Wong, distraught, sought temporary refuge with friends. A few weeks later she moved into a two-story house in nearby Ashiya. On January 17th, the house - and much of Ashiya - were leveled by the devastating Kobe earthquake, and Wong became the first known American to die in the ruins.”
(reported by PEOPLE Magazine in an article published online on January 30, 1995 -
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Port skyline of a recovered post-quake Kobe. Photo by 663highland.