On Friday, January 16, 2015, “The 20th Anniversary Ceremony of the Hanshin-Awaji Great Earthquake was held in the front of “Kobe Bell” at the Seattle Center and the ceremony was sponsored by Seattle Kobe Sister City Association, Hyogo Prefecture Washington Office, Cherry blossom Festival executive committees, and Kobe Trade Information Office. Continuous rain through the morning completely stopped and under a beautiful blue sky which was unusual Seattle weather, we, more than 60 people attended the ceremony. We prayed and gave a condolence of 6, 434 victims. Followed by the greetings of the special guests and the reading aloud of the prayer sentences of the Seattle Buddhism Society Priest, at 12:46 p.m. (Japan time January 17, 5:46 a.m.,) candles were lit to honor the dead and a one-minute prayer was offered with all participants. Then, each attendee moved hitting the Kobe Bell with memorial thought. Japanese Consul General Masahiro Omura, Mr. Harper, a representative of the City of Seattle, and Mr. Uy, a representative of the State of Washington, three of them told the ceremony that “the sister city relations of Seattle and Kobe are very import. There strong relations want you to follow continuously.” After the ceremony, there were some receptions and exhibitions in the building of Armory and Seattle-Kobe Sister City Association, City of Seattle, Hyogo Business & Cultural Center, and City of Kobe have booths to show about current Earthquake Disaster Preparedness project and ongoing risk management activities since the disaster. 1月16日金曜日、シアトルセンター「神戸ベル」前で当事務所、シアトル神戸姉妹都市協会、兵庫県ワシントン州事務所、さくら祭り実行委員会等の主催で「阪神・淡路大震災20年追悼式典」が開催されました。朝まで降っていた雨もすっかり上がり、この季節のシアトルでは珍しい明るい太陽の下、60名以上の方々にご参加いただき、6,434の犠牲者に対して哀悼の意を捧げました。 来賓の挨拶、シアトル仏教会僧侶による祈願文の朗読に続き、午後12時46分（日本時間1月17日午前5時46分）にあわせて全員で黙とうをささげたあと、出席者一人一人が追悼の思いを込めて鐘を撞きました。 出席された大村在シアトル日本国総領事、シアトル市役所代表Harper氏、ワシントン州政府代表Uy氏は口をそろえて「シアトルと神戸の姉妹都市関係はとても大切。今後ともこの強固な関係が続いてほしい。」と挨拶されました。 式典の後には、シアトルセンターArmoryで被災地の震災復興の様子や、神戸市、シアトル市の災害に備えた取り組みについての紹介を行いました。
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 23:28:31 +0000
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