One Month After Japan's Noto Peninsula Earthquake, Scars Remain... 14,000 Evacuated

238 Dead, 46,000 Houses Collapsed
41% of Deaths Due to Crushing... Disaster-Related Deaths Also Increasing
Japanese Government Provides Up to 54 Million Won per Household Support

It has been a month since a magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck the Noto Peninsula in Japan, yet residents are still struggling to return to normal life.

On the 1st, local media including the Asahi Shimbun reported that more than 10,000 residents remain evacuated and water outages continue. The death toll as of last month reached 238, with 19 people missing. In addition to damage to approximately 46,000 homes, the number of evacuees is estimated to be around 14,000.

January 11, Anamizu Town, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan
[Photo by Yonhap News]

Among the deceased, of the 222 people examined by the police, the largest cause of death was crushing under collapsed buildings, accounting for 92 people (41%). This was followed by suffocation and respiratory failure at 49 people (22%), and hypothermia or freezing deaths at 32 people (14%).

Professor Yoshinobu Gako of the elderly care department analyzed that the high number of hypothermia and freezing deaths was due to "the combination of cold weather and geographical conditions, as well as the inability to conduct rapid rescue operations because of road blockages."

As evacuation life has prolonged since the earthquake, there has been an increase in "disaster-related deaths" caused by worsening chronic illnesses, accumulated fatigue, and mental stress. According to Ishikawa Prefecture authorities, 15 of the 238 deaths are identified as disaster-related deaths.

Although electricity and communications have mostly been restored, 40,000 households are still facing difficulties in daily life due to water outages. The scale of water outages initially reached up to 110,000 households immediately after the earthquake, but restoration efforts have reduced this to about 40,000 households. Considering that during the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake, 450,000 households experiencing water outages were fully restored within one month, it is understood that restoration efforts are facing difficulties.

Regarding this, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported, "This earthquake is facing challenges in restoration due to the peninsula's geographical characteristics combined with road blockages."

Meanwhile, Ishikawa Prefecture is constructing temporary housing for evacuees whose homes were destroyed and are uninhabitable. It is projected that more than 9,000 homes are needed, and by the end of March, 6,500 units including temporary and public housing will be provided.

The Japanese government plans to provide up to 3 million yen (approximately 27 million KRW) to elderly and disabled households among the evacuees to help them return to daily life, Kyodo News reported citing government officials. In addition to the existing support amount of 3 million yen, it is expected that support can be increased up to 6 million yen (approximately 54 million KRW).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.