Uncertainty ahead for quake-hit Japan peninsula
Pastor Dale Morgan
Uncertainty ahead for quake-hit Japan peninsula*
27 Mar 2007 03:30:28 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Issey Kato
WAJIMA, Japan, March 27 (Reuters) - Victims of a powerful weekend
earthquake in central Japan that killed one person and destroyed
hundreds of homes faced an uncertain future on Tuesday, with few signs
of when life would return to normal.
About 1,900 people spent a second night in evacuation centres as
hundreds of aftershocks continued to jolt the area following Sunday's
6.9 magnitude quake, which struck the Noto peninsula in Ishikawa
prefecture, about 300 km (190 miles) west of Tokyo.
The tremor demolished 57 houses and seriously damaged more than 700
others, many of them old wooden structures with heavy tile roofs. More
than 200 people were hurt, although most injuries were minor. Electric
power was fully restored but some 8,700 homes still lacked running
water, and troops and aid workers were distributing emergency supplies.
"My husband and I have spent two nights in an emergency shelter," said
Kiyomi Tanabe, 66, whose home in the rural city of Wajima was almost
completely destroyed.
"We are very tired," she said. "We could not sleep well because we are
afraid of aftershocks. We don't have any gas supply, and we don't have
enough water at the shelter."
Some people were taking shelter in their cars, domestic media reports
said, something medical experts advise against because the cramped
conditions can cause health problems including blood clots.
ELDERLY STRUGGLE
Rain was forecast for the region in the evening, prompting fears of
landslides.
Television showed elderly people being carried to shelters by rescue
workers. More than a third of Wajima's 35,000 population is aged over 65.
Past severe quakes in Kobe and Niigata have proven particularly
traumatic for the elderly, many of whom suffered from depression when
they were forced to move into temporary housing because they were cut
off from their local communities.
The peninsula's traditional lacquerware industry, one of its major
tourist draws, was also surveying the damage two days after the quake.
"Lacquerware does not smash like ceramics when it falls, but it does
suffer scratches and dents," said an official at a gallery run by an
association of local lacquerware artists. "I think about 10 percent of
our exhibits have been damaged."