Victims Mourned 3 Years after Major Mudslide in Atami

Jiji Press

17:49 JST, July 3, 2024

ATAMI, Shizuoka (Jiji Press) — A ceremony was held in Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture, on Wednesday, to mourn 28 people who lost their lives due to a major mudslide three years ago.

Residents and people affected by the mudslide offered a moment of silence across the city at 10:28 a.m., when the first report of the disaster came in three years ago.

Atami Mayor Sakae Saito, delivering a speech at the ceremony, said, “We will tackle challenges steadily so that people can get back their peaceful lives as soon as possible.”

Yoko Koiso, 74, who lost a daughter who was 44 years old at the time, met with Shizuoka Gov. Yasutomo Suzuki after the ceremony and urged him to investigate the cause of the disaster and take responsibility.

The mudslide happened on July 3, 2021. A massive soil mound near the upper stream area of the Aizome River collapsed due to heavy rain, damaging 136 buildings such as houses.

As of June 20 this year, 47 people from 22 households had returned to Izusan, a heavily damaged district that had been off-limits until September last year, while 63 people from 32 households still live as evacuees.