女児犠牲の小学校で献花　ブロック塀倒壊―大阪北部地震３年

　大阪市などで震度６弱を観測した大阪北部地震から３年となった１８日、ブロック塀の倒壊で小学４年の女児＝当時（９）＝が死亡した大阪府高槻市の小学校で献花式が行われた。
　献花後、取材に応じた高槻市の浜田剛史市長は「改めて亡くなられた方の冥福を祈る。同様の事故が起こらないようブロック塀の撤去を促進し、点検強化を進めてきた」と話した。
　地震は２０１８年６月１８日午前７時５８分に発生し、６人が死亡した。市立寿栄小ではプール脇のブロック塀が約４０メートルにわたって通学路に倒れ、登校中の女児が下敷きになった。
　市の調査委員会は１８年１０月、内部に施工不良があったものの、法定点検では危険性の把握は困難だったとする報告書を公表。同市では小中学校や公共施設で順次ブロック塀の撤去を進めている。（2021/06/18-10:12）

A flower-laying ceremony was held on Friday to remember an elementary school girl and other fatal victims of a strong earthquake that hit northern areas of Osaka Prefecture, western Japan, three years ago.
   The ceremony took place at Juei Elementary School in the city of Takatsuki, which the girl attended. External concrete block walls built next to the school's swimming pool collapsed due to the quake and fell onto the girl, then 9 years old.
   The temblor occurred on June 18, 2018, measuring lower 6, the third-highest reading on the Japanese seismic intensity scale, in the city of Osaka and other areas, and claiming the lives of six people including the girl.
   "I pray for the repose of the souls of those who lost their lives," Takatsuki Mayor Takeshi Hamada told reporters after the ceremony. "To prevent any recurrence of similar accidents, we've been removing and making reinforced inspections of concrete block walls."
   In a report released in October 2018, an investigative panel of the Takatsuki city government said that it was difficult to detect the risk of the walls' collapse only through mandatory safety inspections, while noting that the walls were built with shoddy workmanship.