Family or not… The reality of “pets and earthquake disaster” that a reporter of this magazine saw in Noto

As he parked his car and walked away in the light rain, he found himself at the entrance to the morning market street. The house on the side of the street had its roof on the ground, with roof tiles scattered about. The paving stones of the nearby sidewalk were rippled. It was already getting dark, and there were no residents walking around.

It was around 3:30 p.m. on January 5 when this reporter arrived near the morning market street in Kawai-cho, Wajima City. It had already been four days since the earthquake occurred on New Year’s Day.

The damaged buildings flanked the street on both sides, and it was possible to get to the middle of the street. However, it was impossible to go beyond the narrowed line of sight of the remaining buildings. It still smelled burnt. In order to get a full view, we detoured in the other direction to check the situation while taking pictures.

After a short walk, we came to a place where the entire area in front of us looked like a burnt field. I could see quite far out into the distance. I had not expected such a large area to have been destroyed by fire. I later learned that the area covered an area of 5,200 square meters.

As I stood there, I met a father and son, an elderly man and a young woman. The young woman was walking around, calling out something to the others. (What are you doing in a burnt-out area that is starting to get dark? ……), so I called out to them.

We are looking for a cat. His name is Chibi.”

The young woman called out the cat’s name, “Chibi-chan. When asked, the young woman answered that the cat was a resident of a building that was supposed to be right in front of where this reporter was standing.

The front door was opened by the earthquake, and the startled little guy went out through it,” she said. My other cat is with me in a pet-friendly room at the shelter, and I came looking for him with some of Chibi’s favorite food. ……

In the young woman’s hand was a snack called “Matatabi Dama,” which was Chibi’s favorite.

There, a young couple came with a group of women wearing waterproof kappa tops and bottoms. The young couple also lived in a nearby house that had burned down, and they were looking for their cat, which they had left at home. It was not only the first father and son we met who were looking for the cat. The women in kappa with them had a white piece of paper on their backs with the words “Pet Rescue” written on it. They were apparently helping people find their pets, looking around and offering advice.

I left them to conduct my interview elsewhere, but as I looked carefully, I noticed small flat plates with pet food on them placed here and there by the side of the road and under the eaves of the houses. It seems that there are more victims than you can imagine who lost their pets in the chaos of the earthquake and left food for such pets.