Politics & Government

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hayashi: Self-Defense Force Helicopter to Take Emergency Food, Toilets to Japan’s Wajima; Schools Closed After Deluge in Region

Yomiuri Shimbun photos
Left: The tank of a water truck is filled in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Sunday.
Right: Traffics lights are out in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Sunday as a blackout continues in the city for a second day after heavy rain hit the city.

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:41 JST, September 23, 2024

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi announced Monday morning the government plans to dispatch a Self-Defense Force helicopter loaded with 10,000 servings of prepackaged dried rice and 8,000 disposable toilet bags to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, which was hit hard by torrential rain on Saturday.

Hayashi made the announcement to reporters at the Prime Minister’s Office.

Following the heavy rain that washed through the prefecture’s Noto region, the board of education in Wajima decided that all nine elementary schools and three junior high schools in the city would temporarily close on Tuesday and Wednesday. There have apparently been leaks in some classrooms of a makeshift school building in the city’s Kawai district although the damage is limited.