Great Hanshin Earthquake
1月
17日
18 Years ago today, I got a call from one of my customers in Japan telling me that there was a big earthquake where near my parents lived. I called my home and got connected and talk to my folks for about 10 minuets. I was not able to communicate with them for next three days.
6,000+ people died from the earthquake and fire. There were more than 600 people died from the city where I came from. I arrived in Japan within one week and got to my parents house. There were still many aftershocks and there were no running gas or water. People are taking bath at the temporary hot bath setup by the defense army.
From this experience, Japanese government learned to accept the help from overseas. They did not accept anyone from overseas for help when this earthquake happened. But they did accept help from overseas when the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsumani happened.
Whether we like it or not, disaster happens. All we can do is to prepared and hope for the best.
Tuesday, January 17, 1995, at 05:46 JST
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Hanshin_earthquake
NOTE: Did you know this Hanshin Earthquake happened exactly 1 year after The Northridge earthquake on January 17, 1994.