46 Hanshin quake survivors die alone in public housing in 2008

Thursday 15th January, 02:29 AM JST

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borscht at 08:14 AM JST - 15th January

I think JT should give us some figures to compare this with. Of people who didn't survive the Hanshin earthquake, how many died alone? (eh?) And of people who weren't even in the Hanshin earthquake, how many died alone? And when these 46 died alone, when were their bodies discovered? Years later, months later, or the next day?
sk4ek at 08:56 AM JST - 15th January

They seem to be trying to draw some implicit connection between "earthquake", "public housing" and "dying alone", but the writer lacks either the research or the gumption to make the connection explicit. Were their families lost in the earthquake? Was the move from temporary shelter to permanent public housing somehow traumatic? Is the implication that these people got "lost in the shuffle" somewhere along the line?
tmarie at 10:14 AM JST - 15th January

What is the point of this? Who cares if they were survivors of the earthquake? What does that have to do with dying alone?? Sad that they died alone but I have to wonder about these folks. Why no friends or family around??
shiuu at 10:34 AM JST - 15th January

Isn't it obvious? The government should have provided them with families ...
Airion at 11:06 AM JST - 15th January

I saw this article on another site and had the same reaction. What do Hanshin quake survivors, public housing, and dying alone have to do with anything? A more concise headline: "People die."

I'm glad I came here and see everyone else thinking the same thing. Thought maybe I was missing something.
tmarie at 11:09 AM JST - 15th January

"Isn't it obvious? The government should have provided them with families ..."

;) I'm sure someone, somewhere is actually thinking that!!
Proffessor at 12:11 PM JST - 15th January

Some articles, when translated directly from Japanese to English or vice versa, don't seem to make much sense in one way or the other. That's from my own observation anyway.
jhk at 12:17 PM JST - 15th January

It indicates that we did nothing to help these people, and it was so bad that they actually died alone. Your comments are ruthless.

To any other readers, I have some advice: One God, One Life, One Promise, everyday, no other way.

I'd rather be crazy than like the people above.
tmarie at 12:30 PM JST - 15th January

"Some articles, when translated directly from Japanese to English or vice versa, don't seem to make much sense in one way or the other. That's from my own observation anyway."

I don't know if it is a lack of translation skills to be honest. I tend to find that many Japanese folks blather on about stuff that really doesnt need to be said - and then they repeat is over and over again.
medievaltimes at 01:31 PM JST - 15th January

jhk - I'm not certain but I think I recall there being a lot of efforts to help victims of the quake at the time, so I'm not sure about your "we did nothing to help these people" thing.

Yes, it is sad to die alone and be a victim of an earthquake...but perhaps no more sad than if die alone and you were a victim of a car accident/crime/animal attack/sickness etc.

Thanks for your advice. I have some advice for you too: One God, Multiple Gods, or No Gods. One Life, or Multiple Lives. One Promise, Multiple Promises, or No Promises. Everyday, Somedays, or No Days. You are free to choose...and so is everyone else.
cabdriver at 01:52 PM JST - 15th January

Ok, everybody take a deep breath. feel better now? I thought we all we're reading this to expand/learn the human knowledge/connection/ect. "Ruthless" or rude, it's a "western thing" its not meant to be impolite, so I'll appologize for the "group" [please remember you have clothing styles older than our country, we're kinda new at all this international stuff, & yes some of the group are being rude & insensitive], sometimes err Asian stuff [sorry still searching for the word] is very subtle, we would say it's too subtle but thats part of the charm & what makes it such a challenge to learn about other "ways" for us. I forget if its Chinese or Japanese but one of them doesn't use nouns that often, again its not right or wrong, thats just the way it is. On the good side, we're all trying. I was kinda lost myself, & yes I thought I was alone too. Is it a spiritual/religious sensitivity, a continuation of disaster relief, Ok after reading two or three times it's all the above. Yeah I guess your friends across the sea are kinda dense. And we appreciate any help in this national "maturing" process, my countrymen obviously need to remember the manners their mother taught them! esp on a foreign site act like the guest you are. this is how we get the ugly American moniker
medievaltimes at 10:04 PM JST - 15th January

cabdriver - What are you talking about?
Nessie at 11:49 PM JST - 15th January

The headline should be in the past tense, since it reports something that did not recently occur.

For instance, a headline for a recent report of new evidence in the Kennedy assasination would not say "Oswald has accomplices." Instead, it would say "Oswald has accomplices."
sf2k at 04:55 AM JST - 16th January

I also don't understand the point of this article. Are they saying the earthquake killed them 18 years later? Makes no sense.

Like tracking the statistics of those who read the Asahi news and determine that reading killed them 18 years later. You can't prove it isn't true either, but it just simplifies everything into nonsense.

More interesting to me is that Hanshim quake survivors are still being overtly tracked as a group. When are they returned to just normal people? Not in 18 years??
trente_sylphs at 09:20 AM JST - 17th January

The article is saying that 46 of the ppl who survived the earthquake in '95 have died in 2008. Thats what the article is stating. Now, it is also stating that they died "alone", meaning, not peacfully ceasing to live, or dying in a family member's home, but they all died by illness (prob in the night as they slept), my accident (the drowning incedent, etc), but then 1 was by suicide.... which leads me to believe something bizarre is happening at those public housing facilities to the senior citizens..

Very weird to have 46 ppl from the same event die in the same year. 46 times is a big number for something to happen in one year...thats almost 1 senior citizen a week (52 weeks/yr)!!! Does that ring as odd to anyone else???

n_n