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The Yomiuri Shimbun Wajima Morning Market Street is seen damaged by a massive fire in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture. The fire burned around 240 buildings on about 49,000 square meters, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency.
By Tetsu Joko, Koji Ito and Satoshi Oga / Yomiuri Shimbun photographers
6:00 JST, April 18, 2024
As the sun set and the town grew dark, one corner of the town began to glow. The lights were coming on at a temporary housing complex in a coastal area of Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture. The prefab housing here, built quickly, was some of the first completed after the Noto Peninsula Earthquake.
The Yomiuri Shimbun Temporary housing built on the grounds of Shoin Primary School in Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture. The complex begins to glow as the sun sets. Orange light also shines at a nearby gas station, which has resumed business.
Yosaku Ichibo, 75, and his wife Yuriko, 71, began living in one of the units in March, and now spend their days cleaning up their collapsed home and sweating in their fields, which went untouched for some time. After the quake, they stayed in their car for two weeks and then slept in their garage. They said they were happy to finally be able to sleep well at night.
The Yomiuri Shimbun Yosaku Ichibo, left, and his wife Yuriko smile on a visit to their old home in Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture. The couple, who began living in temporary housing at Shoin Primary School in March, said they want to live in an area they are used to.
In the 76 temporary housing units, 176 people have started to rebuild their lives. Most of the buildings in the surrounding residential areas were damaged, and at night these areas are enveloped in darkness.
Scars from the quake that struck the Noto region on New Year’s Day still cover the peninsula. Seen by drone, the damage is striking, but people are working to rebuild.
The Yomiuri Shimbun Huge cracks caused by the earthquake are seen on the Shiroyone Senmaida rice terraces in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture.
“I’d like to hear visitors say, ‘The area has changed,’ rather than that we just rebuilt,” said Kunihiko Tada, 72, chairman of the Wakura Onsen Tourism Association, based in Nanao, Ishikawa Prefecture. At the hot springs here, buildings are cracked and the seawall has taken extensive damage. Some ryokan inns could take years to rebuild and reopen for business. However, there has been no talk of closing for good, and all the inns have agreed on a recovery plan. Tada has set a high target for them. “We had about 900,000 visitors a year before the COVID-19 pandemic, but we hope to increase the number to about 1 million,” he said.
The Yomiuri Shimbun The Wakura Onsen area in Nanao, Ishikawa Prefecture, where businesses are working to restart. Sandbags are piled up along the seawall facing Nanao Bay.
The lights are coming back on in a deeply damaged Noto, and there looks to be more light ahead.
