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The Yomiuri Shimbun The Asaichi-dori area of Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, is seen on Friday, after the completion of publicly funded demolition work.
The Yomiuri Shimbun
16:08 JST, April 26, 2025
WAJIMA, Ishikawa — The publicly funded demolition of 249 buildings around the the Asaichi-dori area in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, that were severely damaged by the Noto Peninsula Earthquake and an ensuing massive fire, has been completed.
The city government and local residents will hold discussions on land use and landscape planning, with the goal of completing reconstruction work by fiscal 2030.
The fire engulfed about 50,000 square meters of the area, which was densely packed with wooden buildings, including shops and homes. The city confirmed the desires of all building owners regarding demolition by last November.
The demolition work, which started last June, was scheduled to be completed by the end of March this year but ended up not being finished until Friday.
The Yomiuri Shimbun The area is seen on Jan. 10 last year, after it was devastated by an earthquake and massive fire.
“It took a while [to demolish the buildings], but the completion is the first step toward rebuilding the Asaich-dori area,” said the chief of the city’s environment affairs division.
Residents established a local redevelopment council late last year and drew up a plan for rebuilding the area largely as it was before the disaster.
The local government is set to begin designing, with the intention of starting work in early September, and will cooperate with local residents to consider locations for stores, homes and public housing for disaster victims.
Meanwhile, the Ishikawa prefectural government disbanded its disaster headquarters, which had been operating since the earthquake, on Friday, as all evacuation centers in the prefecture had closed by April 13.
