Victims Mourned 35 Years after Mt. Unzen Pyroclastic Flow

Shimabara, Nagasaki Pref., June 3 (Jiji Press)--Residents of the city of Shimabara in Nagasaki Prefecture, southwestern Japan, on Wednesday mourned the 43 victims of a pyroclastic flow from the Fugen peak of Mount Unzen in the prefecture that occurred 35 years ago.

At 8:30 a.m., about 50 people, including Mayor Ryuzaburo Furukawa, offered flowers at a tribute stand in front of a memorial monument in a park at the Nita housing complex, where many residents affected by the 1991 incident moved. Furukawa, who was a volunteer firefighter at the time, said he has not forgotten that 12 members of the volunteer fire brigade were killed.

"Nature can really become threatening in an instant," he said. "I hope it will be a day to think about our own safety."

Yasuko Kanegae, the 90-year-old wife of former Mayor Kanichi Kanegae, who died last August and was known for leading the response to the incident, also visited the park. She said she offered flowers because she felt grateful for people's support for her husband.

A bell rang alongside a siren sounded by the city government at 4:08 p.m., the time the large pyroclastic flow occurred on June 3, 1991, at the site of a former agricultural training center, where volunteer firefighters were working at the time.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]