Thread: Strong quake prompts tsunami warning Japan

Cherry blossoms bloom in Japan's earthquake-hit Noto Peninsula

‘Drifting Postbox’ for Letters to Lost Loved Ones Kept Alive; Jionji Temple in Iwate Pref. Takes Over Duties

A unique postbox that receives letters with messages for people who died in the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake stands on the Hirota Peninsula in Rikuzen-Takata, Iwate Prefecture.

A man who has operated the postbox once thought about closing it because he had to take care of his mother. However, when he saw people who had lost their family members due to the Noto Peninsula Earthquake, he changed his mind.

“I thought that there is still a role for the postbox,” he said.

This spring, a temple on the peninsula took over the postbox from the man so that it could continue to serve the people affected by the disaster.

The postbox was set up in 2014 by Yuji Akagawa, 74. Seeing people affected by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami who were unable to talk about their feelings of sadness and despair, he wanted them to feel a sense of peace by writing letters to their family members or friends who had died in the disaster.

Akagawa named the postbox “Drifting 3.11 Postbox” as it is the place where letters with nowhere to go would end up drifting. He managed the postbox while running a cafe at the tip of the peninsula.

So far, the postbox has received more than 1,000 letters saying such things as: “I wish I could meet you in my dreams” and “I always think of you.”

Setsuko Sato, 68, of Sendai, who lost her 56-year-old firefighter husband in the tsunami in Minami-Sanriku, Miyagi Prefecture, has been emotionally supported through the postbox.

“You will always be 56 years old, and my age has surpassed yours. I want to see you,” she wrote in a letter after dreaming of her husband three years after the Great East Japan Earthquake. In the letter, she wrote her feelings that she had kept to herself. When she sent the letter, her heart felt lighter because she was able to express feelings that she could not express even to her son or brothers. Since then, she has been writing letters whenever she feels like it, sending one or two letters a year.

While Akagawa continued to manage the postbox, he had to start taking care of his 98-year-old mother, who was beginning to show symptoms of dementia. He began to consider closing the postbox around 2022.

Amid such circumstances, the situation in the areas hit by the Jan. 1 Noto Peninsula Earthquake reminded Akagawa of the situation immediately after the 2011 disaster.

“I thought that many people in the Noto region must have sad feelings that they cannot express to those around them,” he said.

Akagawa asked the Jionji temple in the city, which he had asked to hold memorial services for the letters, to take over the postbox. Keiko Furuyama, 75, a former priest of the temple, accepted the request.

“This is the role that temples should perform. I would like to listen to the feelings of the people affected by the disaster as much as possible,” Furuyama said. The postbox was moved to the temple grounds at the end of March, and he began accepting letters in April.

“I am relieved that I could find a new custodian of the postbox,” Akagawa said.

Thirteen years after the Great East Japan Earthquake, many of the letters are about the daily events of bereaved families.

“I don’t want my husband to worry about me forever. I want to write letters that make him think I’m enjoying my life,” Sato said.

Ishikawa Pref. unveils Noto quake reconstruction plan

The Ishikawa prefectural government unveiled Monday a final draft of its plan for reconstruction after the Jan. 1 earthquake in central Japan’s Noto Peninsula.

Covering the nine years through fiscal 2032, the plan features efforts to create disaster-resistant communities and increase the so-called related population, or people continuously involved in a particular region without necessarily being permanent residents, in order to maintain the prefecture’s vitality amid its shrinking population.

The reconstruction plan will be formally adopted after being presented to the prefectural assembly. It was compiled following hearings with local residents and mayors and discussions at a panel of experts.

In the final draft, the Ishikawa government divided up measures to rebuild infrastructure, people’s livelihoods and daily lives into the three groups of short-term projects lasting two years, medium-term projects spanning five years and long-term projects lasting nine years.

The prefecture said that boosting the related population is its most important task. In order to increase the related population, an organization will be established to act as a coordinator between the public and private sectors on reconstruction projects and as a liaison for reconstruction aid.

On vital infrastructure severely damaged by the temblor, including electricity and water supplies, the draft plan underscored the need to improve resilience by incorporating new perspectives.

The draft suggested as an option the establishment of a system in which each settlement secures its own power and water sources separate from public water and electricity services, in order to create infrastructure that is both disaster-resistant and sustainable.

The prefecture will also create a scenic route in coastal areas of the peninsula and support local festivals to support the reconstruction of communities.

Ishikawa Pref. Unveils Noto Quake Reconstruction Plan

Noto Peninsula faces youth exodus amid slow earthquake recovery

The Noto Peninsula earthquake has triggered a severe outflow of young people, leaving the region struggling to rebuild. Local residents are increasingly concerned that there will be no one left to carry out the lengthy “creative reconstruction” that Ishikawa Prefecture is aiming for.

In Wajima and Suzu, the two cities hardest hit by the earthquake, the population of those under 30 has decreased by about 12% and 8%, respectively, compared with a year ago. In contrast, those over 70 years old decreased by about 4% and 5%, respectively, highlighting a more serious exodus of younger residents.

Toshio Itoya, 69, a community leader in the Noroshimachi district of Suzu, at the tip of the Noto Peninsula, is deeply worried about the trend.

“Who’s going to help out with the reconstruction work? Us old folks certainly can’t,” he said. Even if temporary housing is built and infrastructure is restored, he doubts many will return.

Young people are leaving because “they can’t earn a living here,” he explained. “If there’s money to be made, people will come of their own accord.”

Two years ago, Itoya received government approval for a regional development project and started a cooperative to send young people from the cities to local restaurants and farmers in need of labor. These workers take on different jobs each season and day of the week.

At one point, the cooperative employed 10 young people, but the earthquake hit the project hard, causing five of them to leave Noto. Some had decided to stay and work as full-time employees but lost their homes in the quake, forcing them to relocate.

According to Itoya, young people need a viable system to make a living in primary sectors, but the challenges are significant.

“If there is a guarantee of a decent salary and inexpensive housing, people will come,” he said, stressing the need to put in place public housing and other support for young residents.

Ishikawa Prefecture's reconstruction plan focuses on increasing the number of those actively involved in community building without requiring them to settle down permanently. However, Itoya is skeptical about its effectiveness.

“We have to take care of the cows and cut the grass,” he said.

“Without people who are willing to settle down and work hard at the root of the community, it will be impossible to sustain.”

Temporary road opens on uplifted coast in quake-hit Noto

A temporary bypass has opened on a coastal portion uplifted by the magnitude-7.6 Noto Peninsula earthquake in Ishikawa Prefecture on Jan. 1.

The detour that opened around noon on May 2 is solely for emergency responders and vehicles driven by residents of communities in and around this hard-hit city.

Officials of the land ministry’s Noto Reconstruction Office said the road was built to bypass a section of National Highway Route 249 rendered unusable by a landslide.

The section is located close to the Shiroyone Senmaida terraced rice paddies, a central government-designated site of scenic beauty.

The new, single-lane road is 5 meters wide and 430 meters long.

A layby area was also built nearby for motorists to stop to allow oncoming traffic to pass.

The makeshift road restored direct links between Najimi and other districts of Wajima, which had been left isolated by the quake, and downtown Wajima. It will be closed to traffic, however, if any future seismic activity is observed, as well as during heavy rain and when high waves lash the coast.

The land ministry is seeking to restore that section of the national highway as soon as possible, along with four other sites of National Highway 249 that collapsed.

Temporary road opens on uplifted coast in quake-hit Noto | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis

Suzu Mayor Wants Swift Demolition of Quake-Damaged Buildings

The mayor of Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Wednesday stressed the need for the swift demolition of buildings damaged in the Jan. 1 Noto Peninsula earthquake in the central Japan prefecture.

In a speech at a conference hosted by the Research Institute of Japan, a Jiji Press affiliate, Mayor Masuhiro Izumiya said, "The demolition and removal of buildings will lead to the rebuilding of people's lives and livelihoods."

According to Izumiya, around 7,500 buildings damaged in the temblor are expected to be demolished.

"We need to make swift progress in order to prevent a population outflow," he said. "Although many buildings were damaged, our endeavors have not been destroyed."

Referring to Suzu's efforts to preserve local "satoyama" managed forest and "satoumi" managed sea and coastal areas, and the Oku-Noto Triennale festival hosted by the city, Izumiya said that his city will aim for reconstruction that incorporates art and advanced technologies.

Combining Broken Tea Bowls Help Heal Kanazawa Potter’s Broken Heart; Japan’s Ohi Ware Artist Creates New Works From Old Family Creations

A Kanazawa potter has been fusing together fragments of tea bowls, which were shattered during the massive Noto Peninsula Earthquake, from three generations of artists — his grandfather, his father and himself — to create something new.

Ohi Chozaemon XI, 65, was in a state of shock for some time as a result of the extensive damage caused by the Jan. 1 earthquake. However, he became more motivated after seeing how heavy the damage was in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, and how his fellow artists there began taking steps toward reconstruction.

“I’m being tested by the heavens, and this is my response,” Ohi said.

Ohi, whose real name is Toshio, is a successor of Ohi ware, a renowned pottery style dating back to the Edo period.

On New Year’s Day, Kanazawa was hit by a tremor with a maximum intensity of upper 5 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7. Some pieces at the Ohi Museum, which is located in the city center and displays generations of Ohi ware artists’ works, suffered damage, including one of Ohi’s pieces that won the highest award in the applied fine arts category at the Japan Fine Arts Exhibition.

His workshop, which is located in the suburbs of Kanazawa, was even more heavily damaged. The building tilted, the kiln was damaged and more than 100 tea bowls created by each of the three artists were broken. Ohi had moved the works of his father, who died in October and was a recipient of the Order of Culture, to the workshop at the end of last year.

“I had kept them in three separate locations to manage the risk, but I moved them [to the workshop] to select items I could donate to the city,” he said. “I felt responsible for my decision.”

Once he returned to the workshop after the quake, Ohi stopped an employee who was trying to clean up the broken pieces of tea bowls. He could not bring himself to throw away the fragments because of the strong feelings he had for his father and grandfather, as well as for his own works. He spent a week sorting through the pieces but had no idea what to do with them.

“I tried to see whether I could change my style by forming works with the broken pieces in front of me,” Ohi said. “But since I didn’t have a functioning kiln, I was in limbo for a while.”

He came up with the idea of combining the works of three generations around February.

Ohi said: “They are not intentionally broken to fit together. It’s possible because it was done by the heavens. If works spanning 70 years are combined, it’s like a time traveling tea bowl.”

He continued to think of ways to make it work every day.

Ohi renewed his determination in March when he visited his friends, who are lacquer craft artists, in Wajima.

“One person’s house burned down, and another’s had been completely destroyed,” he said. “But some of them had already resumed production, and it motivated me to work harder.”

He combined clay with glaze, which he used as glue, but the mixture swelled when it was fired and did not work well. But he figured out that the swelling can be suppressed by adding powdered pieces of broken tea bowls.

In April, he completed four works, which are irregularly shaped and have a collage-type appearance.

The pieces can be seen in Tokyo at Nihombashi Takashimaya department store from June 5 to 10.

Ohi said his life has been marked by unexpected losses, including the early deaths of his younger sister and eldest daughter.

“Compared to them, [what I experienced during the earthquake] was nothing,” Ohi said. “Because I was able to give the heavens a clear answer in response to their test, I feel like my grief will be healed.”

Dog saved from rubble in quake-hit Japan city as rescuers stress need for pet care

A team dedicated to saving animals in disaster situations, which saved a toy poodle from a collapsed house in the wake of the Noto Peninsula earthquake, has pointed out that pets "are as stressed as their owners and need care."

Maki Tanaka is the 55-year-old representative of Team U-Nyan, based in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture. She and another member went to the disaster site in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, following a quake registering an upper 6 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale. They were responding to a request from relatives of a resident in her 80s whose dog went missing.

Team U-Nyan had rescued a dog that was buried alive for 18 days after the Kumamoto Earthquake in 2016. Members left Chiba Prefecture on the night of Jan. 2, one day after the earthquake. After entering Wajima, their car could not proceed due to a landslide, and the team arrived at the site on foot on the night of Jan. 3. Most of the old houses in the city's Machinomachi district had collapsed, and the area had become isolated.

Team members repeatedly shouted out the 9-year-old toy poodle's name, Mumu, on the morning of Jan. 4. Collapsed pillars and walls of the house prevented them from seeing what was inside the debris. But after some time, they heard a faint bark responding to their calls from inside the house.

Almost 72 hours had passed since the temblor -- the limit after which the survival rate of human beings is said to diminish greatly. Two Japan Self-Defense Force members nearby assisted the team, and spent about two hours carefully clearing away the debris. Using food to lure Mumu, who peeked his head through a gap, the team grabbed him by the collar and pulled him out. "Well done, Mumu," they said, praising the dog.

https://www.msn.com/en-xl/news/other...re/ar-AA1n8ZMx

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Telling Real from Fake in Disaster Times: A Noto Earthquake Case Study

Social media provided fertile ground for disseminating misinformation in the wake of the New Year Noto earthquake. How can social media users discern truth from falsehood and avoid spreading groundless rumors themselves?

Patterns of Groundless Rumors During Disasters

Rumors spread online about the January 1, 2024, earthquake on the Noto Peninsula posed serious problems. The bulk were spread via X (Twitter), prompting Prime Minister Kishida Fumio to warn on January 2 that spreading malicious misinformation about the disaster would not be countenanced. Below I examine the various types of rumors that spread during a disaster, the patterns they follow, and tips for responding.

A huge disaster generates widespread unease in all of society, providing fertile ground for the spread of rumors. It was the same during the Great Kantō Earthquake of 1923, showing that well before the age of social media, humans have a propensity to engage in rumormongering in times of disaster. Today, the Internet and social media contribute exponentially to the speed and dissemination of rumors.

I believe that misinformation in times of disaster follows five patterns. I will describe these here, in the context of the Noto earthquake.

Rumors concerning the extent of damage

Scenes of the tsunami during the March 11, 2011, Great East Japan Earthquake presented as having occurred during the Noto disaster generated several million views. Unsubstantiated information about the causes of the earthquake, the fires that ravaged the centuries-old market in the city of Wajima, and the status of the Shika Nuclear Power Station operated by the Hokuriku Electric Power Company also circulated.

Rumors about criminal activity

Unfounded information spread that gangs of foreign thieves had flocked to Noto. There were also numerous rumors about looting and other criminal behavior at evacuation centers. As in the case of previous disasters, police authorities repeatedly called out this false information.

Fake rescue requests

Dubious rescue requests, such as “Help! I’m trapped in my car,” or “My friend’s family can’t get out of their house because the front door has warped,” spread rapidly without being verified. Hashtags like #SOS, #Pleaseretweet, or #Help make this type of message easy to repost, enabling circulation of false information about the true extent of the disaster.

Much more in the link

Japan: Claim payouts for Noto Peninsula Earthquake exceed US $540m

General insurers in Japan have paid out a cumulative JPY84.89bn ($540m) in claims as of 26 April 2024 for the 1 January Noto Peninsula Earthquake, announced the General Insurance Association of Japan (GIAJ).

In a statement, the GIAJ released the figures for claims paid, with the numbers representing the total combined figures for member companies of the General Insurance Association of Japan and the Foreign Non-Life Insurance Association of Japan.

Number of accepted claims (1) 140,539

Number of completed investigations (2) 133,332

Number of claim payments 94,728

Total amount of claim payments JPY84,888m

The M7.5 earthquake caused over 240 deaths and injured 3,000 others across six prefectures.

Publicly paid demolitions without full consent OK'd for Noto Quake

Japan's environment and justice ministries have decided to allow publicly funded demolitions of houses and other buildings damaged by the Jan. 1 Noto Peninsula earthquake to be carried out without the consent of all owners.

The ministries notified the decision, aimed at easing the burden on applicants and smoothly conducting such demolitions, which have not made substantial progress, to the central prefecture of Ishikawa, hit hardest by the 7.6-magnitude quake, and nearby Toyama, Fukui and Niigata prefectures on Tuesday.

Previously, consent of all owners concerned was required in principle for publicly paid demolitions, carried out for destroyed and severely damaged buildings.

Demolitions are possible without the consent of some of the owners if individuals representing them submit documents saying that they will take responsibility for the work. But the procedure for this is complicated, often leading to delays.

Under the new policy, full consent is not required for buildings such as those that were destroyed, badly damaged by flooding and burned down, and those whose first floor was crushed.

The ministries plan to use the new rule to advance demolition work for the whole of the Asaichi-dori morning market area in the Ishikawa city of Wajima. The market area was heavily damaged by a massive fire in the earthquake.

Over 80% of temporary restrooms at Japan's Noto quake shelters are squat toilets: survey

A survey of 21 evacuation centers in areas hit by the Jan. 1 Noto Peninsula earthquake revealed that more than 80% of the temporary restrooms set up were squat toilets, a Tokyo-based nonprofit organization announced on May 22.

Many quake victims had difficulty using restrooms due to the disruption of overland routes and water cutoffs. Some 40% of shelters that kept track of the dates temporary restrooms were installed took at least eight days to set up the facilities.

Some elderly people with weak legs and backs and children may not be able to use squat toilets, and the nonprofit organization Japan Toilet Labo pointed out that "seniors make up nearly 50% of the population in the (quake-hit) Okunoto region, so such toilets did not match aid needs."

The survey was conducted on Feb. 10-11 and 24-25 by interviewing people in charge of operating 12 shelters in Wajima and nine in Nanao, both in Ishikawa Prefecture, to examine the installation and use of emergency restrooms.

Shortly after the quake, 90% of the 21 evacuation centers surveyed used portable toilets with bags attached to the toilet seats. More than a month later, 38% were still using these, despite the availability of temporary restrooms.

Eighty-five percent of the temporary restrooms installed in evacuation centers were squat toilets. Masaya Shimamura, a nonprofit researcher who conducted the survey, said, "In one evacuation center, there was a case where an elderly person fell and injured themselves while using a squat toilet."

Japan Toilet Labo noted that while squat toilets have been the mainstream for temporary restrooms in the past, versions with sit-down toilets are becoming increasingly popular, and there is a growing need for the latter in assistance efforts in disaster-stricken areas.

At construction sites, sit-down unisex temporary restrooms called "comfortable toilets" that meet Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism standards are becoming increasingly common, and the nonprofit says they should be used in disasters. On the other hand, all of the toilet trailers and "toilet cars" -- light trucks with built-in toilets -- that were deployed in seven Noto Peninsula evacuation centers at the time of the survey had sit-down toilets.

Of the 10 evacuation centers with known installation dates for temporary restrooms, one was installed on Jan. 3, the earliest, and five were installed between Jan. 4 and 7, meaning that 60% of the equipment was installed within a week following the quake. However, there were three shelters that took eight to 14 days to set the toilets up, and one took over 15 days.

The nonprofit said that considering the time differences in the delivery of assistance due to road disruptions and other factors, it is necessary to prepare well in advance.

Japan Toilet Labo representative director Atsushi Kato said, "In past quake disasters, we have experienced 'toilet panics' when there was a shortage of toilets, and the Noto Peninsula earthquake was no different. The quake victims were forced into a difficult situation. It's impossible to efficiently arrange for restrooms after a disaster strikes, and so it's necessary to be prepared on site during normal times."

Wajima-nuri strings of hope

A Wajima lacquerware artisan, who lost his studio in the devastating Noto Peninsula earthquake, restored his precious lacquered string instruments as a symbol of renewal.

Video in the link above

Sixth Meeting of the Headquarters for Supporting Recovery and Reconstruction from the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake

On May 31, 2024, Prime Minister Kishida held the sixth meeting of the headquarters for supporting recovery and reconstruction from the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake at the Prime Minister’s Office.

At the meeting, the participants engaged in discussions on efforts toward recovery and reconstruction.

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Japanese government pledges $330 mil. for Noto Peninsula quake reconstruction

The Japanese government has decided to provide hundreds of millions of dollars to Ishikawa Prefecture to support rebuilding efforts, five months after a powerful earthquake struck central Japan's Noto Peninsula on New Year's Day.

Farmers in Wajima City are planting rice seedlings in paddy fields. By mid-May, they had finished repairing irrigation waterways damaged by the quake, but farmer Ura Tsuneo says problems remain.

Ura had to level his paddies that were left uneven by the temblor, so he expects planting to take about a month longer than usual.

The government made its decision Friday at a taskforce meeting on the disaster. About 330 million dollars will go into a reconstruction fund to be set up by Ishikawa Prefecture, with the money to come from tax revenues allocated for special needs of local governments.

That amount tops the government's assistance after the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake, which totaled about 325 million dollars.

The officials also agreed to provide financial assistance to Niigata and Toyama Prefectures, which suffered damage from liquefaction as a result of the quake.

Houses Slowly Demolished with Public Funding After Noto Earthquake; Only 0.6% Removed After Five Months

The removal of buildings damaged by the Noto Peninsula Earthquake has not progressed, hindering the recovery efforts of residents five months after the disaster.

In Ishikawa Prefecture, where more than 24,000 homes were damaged by the quake, just 95 buildings, accounting for 0.6% of all applications had been demolished using public funds as of Wednesday.

The government has been working hard to promote the publicly funded demolition system.

According to the Environment Ministry and other organizations, there were applications for 16,240 houses, 95 of which had been demolished using the system as of Wednesday.

In some cases, demolition has been carried out without waiting for an application, and in other cases, residents have temporarily paid the costs for the demolition, but even including these cases, only 383 houses have been demolished in the prefecture so far.

In Wajima, 4,610 applications have been submitted, along with 3,359 in Suzu.

By the end of October 2025, 22 months after the earthquake, the prefectural government expects to have demolished about 22,500 houses.

The need to obtain demolition consent from homeowners had been a major stumbling block for applications. However, the government announced Tuesday that such damaged houses can be demolished with public funding at the discretion of the local government without requiring the consent from all associated homeowners.

Additionally, due to the lack of accommodation facilities on the northern tip of the Noto Peninsula, which was severely damaged by the quake, many demolition workers are forced to commute to work from distant areas, including Kanazawa.

“There could be a large gap between the number of demolition applications and the number of houses needing to be demolished,” said an official from the Suzu municipal government.

In the aftermath of the Kumamoto Earthquake in April 2016, about 35,000 houses were demolished using public funding. As of September that year, the rate of houses demolished using public funding was 12%, and demolition was completed in about 2.5 years.

Over 100 Biz Closures in 4 Municipalities Hit by Noto Quake

More than 100 businesses have decided to close in four municipalities in Ishikawa Prefecture, central Japan, since they were hit hard by the massive Noto Peninsula earthquake on Jan. 1, according to local chambers of commerce and industry.

Many business owners are giving up on rebuilding their businesses as the affected areas are experiencing population outflows due to slow progress in reconstruction efforts.

As of May 27, the number of businesses that had decided to close was at least 48 in the city of Suzu, 38 in the city of Wajima, 16 in the town of Noto and 10 in the town of Anamizu.

The Suzu chamber of commerce and industry conducted a survey of 533 businesses in April, and found that 33 of them had already closed, 15 were planning to close, and 87 had suspended operations. As only 44 pct of the surveyed businesses gave valid responses, the chamber's secretary-general, Yoshinobu Sode, said that the actual numbers of such businesses could be twice as high as the figures in the survey.

The main reason for business closures was shrinking local markets due to population outflows. "Some people decided to close their businesses after dithering as it is uncertain whether sales would recover even if they manage to rebuild their businesses," Sode said.