More than 80 people have died so far in the Noto Peninsula earthquake of magnitude 7.6 on January 1 in Ishikawa Prefecture, and rescue efforts are continuing in the affected areas. AAR Japan (Association for Aid and Relief, Japan) has dispatched an emergency support team to the affected areas to provide soup kitchens at Suzu City evacuation centers and deliver relief supplies to facilities for persons with disabilities in various parts of the prefecture.

Water has been cut off throughout the devastated city of Suzu, and power is out in some areas. At a group home, the building of the facility was fortunately not severely damaged, but the homes of residents and staff were destroyed, and some have not been able to confirm their safety. The service manager said, “We have distributed emergency rations that we had stored to all the users, but we are worried about when they will run out. There is an overwhelming shortage of food and other relief supplies that reach the evacuation centers, and it is difficult to obtain them once people leave the evacuation centers and return to their homes.

One staff member said, “A staff member has been forced to live whithout food with his father, his son’s family who have returned home for the New Year’s holidays. There is only one supermarket in the neighborhood, and customers have to pick up and purchase items scattered on the floor in the pitch-dark because of the violent tremors,” he said.

AAR’s emergency support team delivered bottled water, water tanks, food (canned food, instant curry, etc.), emergency toilets, and hygiene items (body wipes, waterless shampoo, etc.) on the night of March 4. The staff members especially appreciated the water tanks and emergency toilets and said, “Since the water supply has been cut off, people have been fetching water from nearby streams to flush their toilets,” and “In some cases, even women have been using toilets outside.”

Access to Suzu City is extremely dangerous as the road condition deteriorates from Nanao City to the northern part of the city, and north of Anamizu Town, the road surface is heavily rippled and has large cracks. Landslides and collapsed road surfaces were also seen, causing heavy traffic jams with vehicles derailing here and there. It took six and a half hours to reach Suzu City from Imizu City in western Toyama Prefecture, where relief supplies were procured.

We kindly ask for your cooperation in AAR’s emergency support for the Noto Peninsula earthquake.