A special memorial service is to be held in the Japanese city of Kobe later today Monday to mark the fifth anniversary of the powerful earthquake which killed nearly six-and-a-half thousand people in the area.

It was the worst natural disaster Japan had suffered for fifty years.

The BBC Tokyo correspondent says the centre of Kobe has been completely rebuilt and there's now little physical evidence that an earthquake took place.

But she says unemployment is higher than in other areas because some industries moved after the earthquake, and many people in the city are still traumatised by their memories.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service