Noto Peninsula Earthquake

Over 1,300 Houses Destroyed or Damaged in Noto Earthquake; Situation in Hard-Hit Cities Still Difficult to Ascertain

The Yomiuri Shimbun

17:38 JST, January 8, 2024

The recent Noto Peninsula Earthquake caused severe property damage, with at least 1,305 houses either destroyed or severely damaged in 17 municipalities, according to the Ishikawa prefectural government’s tally as of 2 p.m. Sunday.

It is still difficult to ascertain the full extent of the damage in the severely afflicted cities of Wajima and Suzu, and the number of damaged buildings is likely to increase.

The Yomiuri Shimbun received data from aerial photographs of parts of the affected areas taken by Kokusai Kogyo Co., a Tokyo-based aerial surveying firm, and visually confirmed that 78 buildings had collapsed in Wajima, 28 in Suzu and 11 in Nanao.

In Wajima, damage was concentrated on the southeast side of Asaichi-dori avenue, which was destroyed by a large fire.

University of Tokyo Prof. Koichi Kusunoki, who specializes in earthquake-resistant engineering, conducted a field survey of the quake-hit areas on Saturday and found that most of the old wooden houses collapsed or had their first floors crushed. Kusunoki also found traces of liquefaction, in which muddy gray water spewed out onto the ground.

“The strong shaking, combined with the poor ground conditions, caused terrible damage,” he said.