600 OF THEM WERE FROM KOBE. AMONG MAJOR CITIES, KOBE, WITH ITS POPUL...

4,600 of them were from Kobe. Among major cities, Kobe, with its population of 1.5 million,

was the closest to the epicenter and hit by the strongest tremors. This was Japan’s worst

earthquake in the 20th century after the Great Kantō earthquake in 1923, which claimed more

than 140,000 lives.