Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Representatives of 150 countries began gathering today in Kobe, Japan, 10 years after an earthquake killed 6,433 in the port city, to discuss ways to limit destruction from disasters such as quakes and tsunamis.

The United Nations-sponsored World Conference on Disaster Reduction opens tomorrow, and will run through Jan 22. The meeting comes after a Dec. 26 tsunami, generated by a magnitude 9 earthquake, swept coastal communities in Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India and other nations on Dec. 26, killing about 170,000 people and leaving 5 million homeless.

More than 4,000 delegates are expected in Kobe to discuss a conference agenda that includes ways to create a tsunami warning system in the Indian Ocean, for which Japan has offered to pay $4 million.

Kobe, in western Japan, held candlelight vigils and other commemorative events today to mark the 1995 earthquake -- Japan's deadliest since 1923. The temblor destroyed more than 100,000 buildings, heavily damaged rail lines, port facilities and highways, and injured more than 40,000 people, with 300,000 people homeless, according to Japan's Cabinet Office.

Kobe is still at work to restore services and infrastructure, and has yet to recovery from the temblor's economic effects.

Sales at department stores in the city are about nine-tenths their pre-quake levels, and production at traditional industries that include shoe factories and sake breweries remains below levels of a decade ago, according to Kobe city's Web site.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tim Kelly in Tokyo at tikelly@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: January 16, 2005 23:27 EST