They came to offer flowers, juice and silent prayers in memory of a 9-year-old girl — some touched by the tragic death of a child they had never seen or met, others by the loss of a neighbor.
As the cleanup continued Tuesday across the Kansai region following Monday's magnitude 6.1 earthquake centered in Takatsuki, residents of the town stopped to pay their respects at a makeshift memorial to Rina Miyake, who had been on her way to her elementary school when a concrete wall surrounding the school's swimming pool collapsed and killed her.
"It was such a tragedy," said Haruo Kurikoma, 81, who lives nearby but said he did not know Miyake. He added that the incident had many worried about what would happen to homes and structures in the area if aftershocks continue.
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