One Week After Noto Peninsula Disaster: Victims Confront Employment Concerns and Economic Anxiety

The heavy rain flooded the store and damaged the electrical system, destroying all of the supermarket’s refrigerators and cooling systems. The cash registers were also ruined. 2 of them cost 3 million yen. …… Eight light trucks used for mobile sales were also flooded and are now out of service. The damage is just too great.”

A 46-year-old man who works at Motoya Supermarket in Machino-cho, Wajima City, Ishikawa Prefecture, told this reporter that his shoulders slumped.

Passenger car flattened by muddy water from torrential rain

The torrential rains that hit Ishikawa Prefecture from September 20 to 23 inflicted tremendous damage on the Noto Peninsula, which is still in the process of recovery. 11 people were confirmed dead and 5 were missing as of September 28. Approximately 450 people have been evacuated, and 4,253 households are still without water.

When this reporter arrived in Wajima City on March 22, he saw a large amount of sediment piled up everywhere. Driftwood as thick as utility poles pierced a farm equipment shed and overturned a passenger car so that it was crushed without a trace by the muddy waters that swept into the city due to the overflowing of the river. Foodstuffs such as cup noodles and bread had disappeared from drugstores in the center of the city. The man described the situation at the time of the disaster.

We had closed the automatic doors to prevent water from entering the supermarket, but the volume of water kept rising, and the doors were broken through with a “crack” sound. I called out to the employees, ‘Let’s get out of here! and we rushed to evacuate.

The first floor of Motoya Supermarket was submerged under water. The store’s interior was reportedly littered with muddy merchandise. There is no indication of when the store will reopen for business.

As long as I can’t open the store, I don’t know what will happen to my employment,” he said. I am not sure if I will be able to make a living in the future. Even if we were to reopen, we don’t have enough money or manpower. I don’t know if I can ask for volunteers or if I can just go to ……. I feel like my heart is about to break.

The back of a 2-ton truck was swept away.

When we visited Suzu City, which was also severely damaged, we found that employees of the Anamizu Branch Suzu Office of Komatsu Ishikawa Corporation, a construction equipment sales company, were busy restoring the office.

The bed of a 2-ton truck parked on the company’s premises was covered with muddy water. The bed of a 2-ton truck parked on the company’s property was swept away by the muddy water and blocked the road. I received a call from a firefighter who was patrolling the area and came to work. The inside of the warehouse where the construction equipment was kept was also a mess. It was terrible. ……”

The people of the Noto Peninsula are still looking forward and working hard toward recovery, despite being struck down by a series of natural disasters, including a massive earthquake and killer torrential rains.