At 10:13 a.m. (1:13 a.m. GMT), the time when the quake occurred 10 years ago, about 700 ceremony participants, including victims' family members and Niigata Governor Ryuichi Yoneyama, offered silent payers and paid floral tributes to 15 people who died in the quake.

The ceremony was held in the Sea of Japan coastal city of Kashiwazaki, jointly organized by the municipal governments of Kashiwazaki and the village of Kariwa.

"The 10 years seemed long but were short," Hiroshi Inomata, 56, from Kashiwazaki, said. His father, a high school teacher, was killed in the quake.

"After 10 years, I still cannot catch up with my father," said Inomata, also a high school teacher.

Haruo Motoi, who lost his mother in the quake, spoke about torrential rain that left more than 30 people dead in the northern part of the Kyushu southwestern region this month. "We need to be prepared, remembering that a disaster can happen at any time," said Motoi, 62. (Jiji Press)