Japan’s Earthquake-Hit Noto Peninsula People Exhausted from Having to Evacuate Again After Heavy Rain

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:10 JST, September 25, 2024

Record-breaking rain in the northern part of the Noto Peninsula has forced 621 people to take refuge at 37 evacuation centers in Wajima, Suzu and Noto in Ishikawa Prefecture.

Most of evacuees were also affected by the Jan. 1 Noto Peninsula Earthquake, and they are at a loss as to how to rebuild their lives after having to return to evacuation life again.

In Wajima, the body of an elderly woman was found Wednesday, bringing the death toll to nine.

About 20 evacuees have taken shelter at the Kawarada community hall in Wajima.

Tomoe Yachi’s two-story house was swept away by the heavy rain. Yachi, 64, who lives in Wajima, had just returned home after evacuating after the Jan. 1 earthquake.

“I lost everything again and feel like I’m below zero,” she lamented.

There is no running water at the hall. The evacuees can get drinking water from water trucks, but they cannot take a bath nor do laundry, making life difficult.

“It’s like we’ve gone back in time to just after the earthquake,” said Haruo Noda, 85, who evacuated from his home near the hall.

In the Otani district of Suzu, which had been isolated due to the rain, about 50 people are sheltering in the gymnasium of Otani Elementary and Junior High School. The water supply has been cut off after a rain-triggered landslide damaged a water purification facility, and power has been out. A power-generator truck just arrived, and the electricity around the gym has been restored.

Osako Anyachi, 84, from the district, had taken shelter at her daughter’s home in Aichi Prefecture after the earthquake partially destroyed Anyachi’s house on New Year’s Day. Having returned to Suzu in May, she has been tidying up her house in the daytime and sleeping at the evacuation center at night.

Anyachi was at home on Saturday when it rained heavily. The rain gradually became heavier, and the nearby river kept rising. When the electricity went out and the phone line went down, she knew her life was in danger and evacuated. She said she has been too scared to go back and check her house since then.

“I have been in danger many times since New Year’s Day,” Anyachi said. “I just hope that I can get through each day safely.”

Police and fire departments continued their searches on Monday as at least three people are still missing.

Around 50 firefighters and police officers continued searching in the town of Noto, clearing roadside grass with poles and checking video relayed from drones above.