Thousands Still in Shelters in Ishikawa Pref.; Recovery Slower than after Kumamoto Quake

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:17 JST, April 1, 2024

There were still 8,109 people living in evacuation shelters in Ishikawa Prefecture as of March 29, roughly three months after the Noto Peninsula Earthquake. However, the total number of evacuees has fallen from a peak of 34,173.

Besides those living at shelters, including ryokan inns, there were also still 140 people staying in their cars and 7,757 people at relatives’ homes in and outside the prefecture.

The rebuilding of victims’ lives is proceeding slower than following the Kumamoto Earthquake in 2016. Three months after that quake there were only about 4,700 evacuees in evacuation shelters.

In Ishikawa Prefecture, the Noto quake killed 244 people, including 15 deaths thought to be disaster related, and 75,430 buildings were damaged, with 8,420 of those completely destroyed.

The prefecture has started building 4,956 temporary housing units for quake victims in eight cities and towns, including Wajima and Suzu, but only 894 of them have been completed.

Water outages, which affected about 110,000 households on the day of the quake, were resolved in the towns of Shika and Anamizu in the past month. However, running water has not been restored to about 7,860 households mainly in the Okunoto region, including most of Suzu.