School Reopens in Suzu After Earthquake

The Yomiuri Shimbun

14:40 JST, May 8, 2023

SUZU, Ishikawa — Classes resumed Monday after the Golden Week holidays in Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture, which was hit by a strong earthquake on Friday. The quake registered upper 6 on the Japanese seismic scale of 7.

Students at Iida High School in the city’s Nonoemachi district spent part of their morning cleaning up with mops and brooms. Books from a collapsed bookshelf were scattered about in the library and white powder, believed to be from ceiling construction material, covered the entire floor of the gymnasium.

A 15-year-old student was relieved to see her friends again, but said, “I would be scared if an earthquake hit during class.”

The temblor killed one person in Suzu and injured a total of 34 people in Ishikawa and Toyama prefectures, according to Yomiuri Shimbun data as of 9 a.m. on Monday. The prefectural government of Ishikawa reported 10 closed roads in both Suzu and Wajima, due to collapsed hillsides and fallen rocks.

The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a heavy rain warning for the Noto area on Saturday. The same day, the Suzu city government ordered the evacuation of 1,630 people living in mountainous areas of the city over fears of landslides.

Water was restored for roughly 128 households in the town by Sunday afternoon. Residents are hurrying to clean up their homes and stay safe in the event of aftershocks.