Kobe earthquake

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 15 January 2025

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On 17 January 1995, an earthquake devastated the port city of Kobe, in west Japan.

More than 6,000 people died and around 300,000 people were left homeless.

It was one of the most powerful earthquakes in the country's history.

Rachel Naylor speaks to Kiho Park who, aged eight, had to jump off his balcony to escape when his home was damaged.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.

(Photo: A resident walks through the debris in Kobe after the earthquake. Credit: Toru Yamanaka via AFP via Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I'd like to quickly tell you about some others.
0:05.1	My name's Andy Martin and I'm the editor of a team of podcast producers at the BBC in Northern Ireland.
0:11.3	It's a job I really love because we get to tell the stories that really matter to people here,
0:16.2	but which also resonate and apply to listeners around the world.
0:19.6	And because the team is such a diverse range of skills and strengths,
0:23.0	we have trained journalists, people who love digging through archives,
0:26.6	we've got drama and even comedy experts.
0:28.9	We really can do those stories justice.
0:31.5	So if you like this podcast, head to BBC Sounds
0:34.2	where you'll find plenty more fascinating stories from all around the UK.
0:43.1	Hello and welcome to the witness history podcast from the BBC World Service with me, Rachel Nailer.
0:48.5	I'm taking you back 30 years to the Kobe earthquake, one of the worst in Japan's history.
0:53.5	More than 6,000 people died.
0:55.5	I've been speaking to a survivor.
0:59.7	It's 5.46am on the 17th of January 1995
1:03.4	and we're in the city of Amagasaki.
1:06.4	And some things woke an 8-year-old Kiho parkup.
1:08.7	I couldn't like understand what is going around me.
1:14.1	It was like, like, a huge truck.
1:16.6	Came to my house and they had a crush.
1:19.2	My first impression was, this is not joking.
1:22.3	Maybe huge truck or some monster that I never seen came to my house.
	...

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