＜今回は、１月１７日ということで２２年前の阪神淡路大震災について英語／日本語で日記を書かせていただきました。＞
Hello, everyone.
This is Riuta.
How are you? I’m fine.
Today is January 17th. Yes. It is the day when the Great Hanshin earthquake occurred 22 years ago. In those days, I was only 8 years old. At 5:46am, the earthquake occurred. My family lived in Kadoma city, Osaka (Hanshin area). But our house and the neighbourhood were little damaged by the earthquake. One thing that I still remember is that, at the time when the earthquake happened, my terrestrial globe fell on my head while I was sleeping. And also, my dad was pushing the chest of drawers which was near our heads so it didn’t fall. When we watched TV, originally the number of victims had not been clear. But gradually, the scale of the damage was reported as time passed. The earthquake had a magnitude of 7.3. Out of the earthquake disasters that occurred in Japan in the postwar period, it caused the most extensive damage next to the Great East Japan earthquake in 2011. The number of deaths was 6,434 people…
It has been 22 years this year since the Great Hanshin earthquake in 1995. At 5:46 this morning, the exact time when the earthquake occurred, I prayed silently, watching an NHK TV program. Which made me recognize again that it had caused not one disaster but 6,434 disasters.
－－－和訳－－－
今日は１月１７日。そうです。２２年前に阪神淡路大震災があった日です。当時、私は８歳でした。午前５時４６分、地震発生。私は大阪の門真市に住んでいました。私の家や近所の家には大きな被害はありませんでした。ただひとつ鮮明に覚えているのは、地震発生時、私たちは寝ていて、私の頭の上に地球儀が落ちてきたことです。あと父親が、頭付近にあるタンスが倒れないように押さえていたことです。テレビをつけると、最初は犠牲者の数は明確にはなっていなかったが、徐々に被害の大きさが伝えられた。マグニチュード７.３。戦後に起きた地震災害では２０１１年に起きた東日本大震災に次ぐ大被害となった。死者６４３４人。。。
あれから２２年経った今朝５時４６分、テレビでＮＨＫの番組を見ながら私も黙祷しました。
ひとつの災害ではなく、「６４３４個の災害だったんだ」とあらためて認識しながら。
