Citizens riding bicycles across the train and tracks with the train still stopped at the West Tenjin crossing of the JR Sanyo Line after the Great Hanshin Earthquake, in Suma Ward, Kobe, Japan.

At 5:46 a.m. on January 17, 1995 (Heisei 7) At 5:46 a.m. on January 17, 1995, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck the Hanshin area, with its epicenter on Awaji Island. The earthquake caused damage in 12 prefectures, mainly in Hyogo and Osaka prefectures, leaving 5,348 dead and 33,222 injured. The number of people killed was 5,348, the number of injured 33,222, and the number of collapsed or damaged houses 109,464 (as of February 15 of the same year). The number of houses destroyed or damaged was 109,464 (as of February 15, 2011). Citizens riding bicycles across the tracks and trains stopped at the Nishitenjin crossing of the JR Sanyo Line in Suma Ward, Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture, on January 24, 1995. Sunday Mainichi Extra Edition, "The Great Hanshin Earthquake," 19, January 24, 1995. February 18, 1995, p. 24. Cut