The Japanese port of Kobe has marked the fifth anniversary of the devastating earthquake which killed nearly 6,500 people and destroyed 250,000 homes.

Before dawn, hundreds of people gathered in a park in the centre of Kobe to light home-made candles in bamboo holders.

The candles were arranged on the ground in the shape of the date 17 January - the day of the earthquake.

People said prayers as they remembered those who died; each flame represented a victim. At exactly 0546, the moment the earthquake struck, the area fell quiet as a minute's silence was observed.

The powerful quake, measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale, was the worst natural disaster to hit the country for 50 years.

"I think we'll need another five years for psychological and other effects of the earthquake to disappear," said psychiatrist Ryukichi Miyazaki, whose clinic was destroyed by the fires sparked off by the tremor.

After the massive destruction, many people are struggling to pay mortgages for new apartments and ones they lost.

Revival

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

But unemployment is higher than in other areas because some industries moved away after the earthquake.

"We're in the middle of the process of moving from reconstruction to revival," Kobe Mayor Kazutochi Sasayama said.

But he said economic prosperity would be harder to restore than collapsed apartments and motorways.

Port traffic and department store sales are still 60% and 80% of pre-disaster levels.

Dangerous buildings

Some people have questioned whether lessons from the quake have been learned.

When it struck, Japan's prime minister was not informed for two hours. It took four hours to ask for the army's help and a full day to set up a headquarters. Many people blamed in-fighting between government departments.

Since then, Japan has passed legislation to allow the central government to take the lead in disaster prevention - but some now question the authorities' commitment.

"Right after the Kobe quake, most local governments got serious about disaster prevention," Tsuneo Katayama, director-general of the National Research Institute for Earthquake and Disaster prevention, said.

"But their enthusiasm is tapering off."

He said budget constraints had undermined moves to build cities that could withstand earthquakes.

"The country is spending hundreds of billions of yen a year for quake prevention," Mr Katayama said.

"But we can and must do more such as getting rid of dangerous buildings and improving protection of lifelines - water, electricity supply and telephone lines."