Noto Earthquake Report: Graphic Photos of the Gruesome Aftermath
“This is not good.”
That’s what I felt right after the quake. I had no reason to ask why. I felt something different from a normal earthquake, and I warned my family, who had gathered at my parent’s house for the New Year’s holiday, “It’s going to be big!”
“Stay down! Get down!”
In no time at all, the shaking intensified. The TV almost toppled over, and small items on the wardrobe fell out with a thud. The children’s faces turned pale with fear, and the strong impact, which lasted for about two minutes, made it impossible for them to stand.
An unimaginable scene.
Shortly after 4:00 p.m. on the evening of New Year’s Day, 2024, a major earthquake hit a wide area on the Sea of Japan coast from Hokkaido to Kyushu. The epicenter was located about 30 km east-northeast of Wajima City in Ishikawa Prefecture, with a maximum intensity of 7 degrees. The magnitude of the earthquake was 7.6, which is higher than that of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake of 1995. At least 60 people are said to have died in the quake.
In the early morning of January 2, the day after the earthquake, a photographer for this magazine drove from Toyama Prefecture to Ishikawa Prefecture, which was severely damaged. However, they were unable to proceed as far as they wished due to the transportation network being cut off, including roads that had caved in. When they finally arrived at the coastal town of Nanao City in Ishikawa Prefecture just before noon, they were met with an unimaginable scene.
More than a dozen houses had collapsed. Several cars were wrecked. The windows of a convenience store were shattered and merchandise was strewn on the floor.
As of January 2, the full extent of the damage caused by the tsunami, liquefaction, and landslides, which reached up to 5 meters high, was not yet known. There are reports of large fires in several locations in Ishikawa Prefecture, and many people were left behind in collapsed houses or buried alive. The Japan Meteorological Agency has warned people to be on the alert for strong aftershocks until around January 10.
This magazine will continue to report damage information from the area as needed.
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PHOTO： Junpei Kota
