Key Points
- Journalist Jun Hori travels to the Noto Peninsula to document the “invisible” victims of the New Year’s Day earthquake, focusing on areas where mainstream media coverage has thinned.
- Severe road damage and landslides continue to isolate small mountainous villages, preventing the delivery of essential supplies and the entry of heavy machinery for debris removal.
- Residents express deep frustration over the lack of running water and the physical toll of living in temporary, unheated shelters or damaged homes during the freezing winter.
- The report highlights a significant “information gap” between official government progress reports and the dire reality of survivors who feel abandoned by the state.
Full Transcript (English)
Host (Jun Hori): I am currently standing in a mountainous district of Wajima City, Ishikawa Prefecture. It has been several weeks since the massive earthquake struck on New Year’s Day. While the main highways are slowly being cleared, if you step just a few hundred meters into these local residential roads, the scene remains exactly as it was the moment the disaster hit.
Host: As you can see behind me, the ground has buckled completely. These cracks are deep, and the asphalt has been tossed around like paper. This is why aid is not reaching everyone. We had to leave our vehicle and walk to reach this cluster of homes. Many residents here feel they have been left behind. Let’s speak with some of the people living through this.
Resident: It has been over twenty days, and we still don’t have a drop of running water. We have to collect snow and melt it, or wait for the water truck, but carrying those heavy containers is nearly impossible for us elderly folk. My legs and back are at their limit.
Host: Are you able to stay warm at night? The temperatures are dropping well below freezing now.
Resident: Not really. We use kerosene heaters, but we have to ration the fuel because we don’t know when the next delivery will come. I sleep in my car because I’m terrified the house will collapse if another big aftershock hits. It’s freezing, and I can’t stretch my legs. I feel like the world has already moved on to other news, but for us, time stopped on January 1st.
Host: This is the reality of “car-camping” evacuation. It leads to serious health risks like economy class syndrome. Despite the government’s talk of “secondary evacuations” to hotels and ryokans, many here cannot leave. They have livestock, they have history, and they fear that if they leave now, they will never be allowed to return to their land.
Host: The gap between the official announcements in Tokyo and the reality here on the ground is massive. The logistics of reaching these “micro-communities” are failing. We see self-defense force helicopters occasionally, but the daily needs of the people—sanitation, medicine, and a sense of hope—are in short supply.
Host: 8bitNews will continue to follow these voices. We must ensure that “recovery” isn’t just a word used for the city centers, but a reality for every single person in the Noto Peninsula. We cannot let these communities be forgotten.
