Today it is exactly 30 years since the Great Hanshin Earthquake. In the West, more known as "The Kobe Quake".

I wrote here 10 years ago about my own experiences of the quake.

Thirty years, it is rather mind boggling! I spoke yesterday with my son, who was four years old at the time, and he said it was a very long time ago. It is.

I am not thinking of it much, but a quick look found some interesting links:
History fading
Silence
Rebuilding
Public debt

There was a lot of volunteering, something rather new for Japan. E.g. I remember reading about a motorcycle club that loaded their bikes with stuff and drove into the stricken areas. It seems it was a start for volunteering.

It was not totally new, there were volunteers in e.g. social work, I knew some. But maybe the earthquake increased the "community" culture?

Now I just remember a rather odd thing... I got my first email address at that time. About thirty years ago. Then followed thirty years of digital bliss for all? 😛

The Kobe Quake was said to be the first earthquake that was really on the Internet. People making websites with the info they could gather etc. I guess they are long gone now. Maybe not even on the Wayback Machine. I do have some booklets about it. Somewhere. Paper can beat bytes.