中越沖地震１５年、冥福祈る　柏崎市の寺で慰霊法要―新潟

　死者１５人、負傷者２３４６人を出した新潟県中越沖地震は１６日、発生から１５年を迎えた。被災地の同県柏崎市の妙行寺番神堂では同日午前、遺族も参加して慰霊法要が行われ、犠牲者の冥福を祈った。
　妙行寺は地震で番神堂脇の鐘楼が倒壊するなどの被害を受けた。参列者は発生時刻の午前１０時１３分に合わせて黙とうをささげた。
　再建された鐘楼では、犠牲者の数に合わせて１５回鐘が突かれ、東日本大震災などの犠牲者をしのぶ鐘も突かれた。
　法要に参加した遺族代表の下條修さん（７５）は「１５年は、早くてあっという間だった。１０年、２０年たっても忘れないだろう。災害の時には助け合って逃げないといけない」と話した。（2022/07/16-12:00）

A memorial service was held Saturday to mourn 15 people killed in a powerful earthquake that struck off the Chuetsu region in Niigata Prefecture, central Japan, 15 years ago.
   At 10:13 a.m. (1:13 a.m. GMT), the time when the 6.8-magnitude quake occurred on July 16, 2007, bereaved families and others offered silent payers for the victims. The temblor also left 2,346 people injured.
   The memorial service was held at Myogyoji temple in the Sea of Japan coastal city of Kashiwazaki, Niigata, where the 2007 earthquake registered upper 6 on the 10-notch Japanese seismic intensity scale.
   A bell tower at Myogyoji collapsed due to the quake but has now been rebuilt. At the day's memorial service, the bell was rung 15 times, or as many times as the number of victims, to mourn them.
   Osamu Shimojo, 75, a representative of the bereaved families who took part in the memorial service, said that 15 years went by very quickly.