A female choral group from Kobe held a concert Saturday at a Belgian cathedral to express gratitude to the people of Antwerp who helped restore the Hyogo Prefecture capital after it was devastated by the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake.
The choral group, Camerata Kobe, itself suffered from the quake as it was planning to start giving performances around that time.
The group's interaction with the people of Antwerp started when the Belgians presented a statute of the Virgin Mary with a wish for Kobe's early recovery to a church that the group had used for practice.
Yoshiko Colon, the lead vocalist, lost her home in the earthquake. She and other members of the choir continued their activities after the quake by visiting survivors and organizing concerts to cheer them up.
The Kobe quake killed more than 6,000 people and injuring some 43,000.