14-Year-Old Swept Away and Over 10 Dead – Astonishing Photos from Our Magazine Photographer

The Noto torrential downpour that killed 14 people, including a 14-year-old girl in her third year of junior high school who was swept out to sea (as of October 7, 2011), has left more than 2,000 houses without water for three weeks since September 21, and there is still no sign of full recovery.

The photographers of this magazine visited the disaster-stricken area, where collapsed houses and crushed cars were strewn about. The reality of the situation was not what it appeared to be.

Originally, these areas used to be rice paddies. But since that day, the landscape has completely changed.

The residents of Futegawa-cho, Wajima City, Ishikawa Prefecture, where the disaster struck, live with their shoulders slumped. The town is located within a few minutes’ walk from the coast and is fed by the Tsukada River, which was inundated by torrential rains in September. Along the river, washed away trees and destroyed cars covered in mud lay in ruins. Moving downstream, one can see the remains of a house that was probably swallowed by the torrent and completely washed away. …… This was the site of the house where the body of a junior high school girl had been found off the coast of Fukui.

Legs sinking into the water

The next stop for the photographer was the Oya area on the coastline of Suzu City. A local resident told us, “This river is where the carp streamers used to be.

The river here is famous for the carp streamers crossing it. I didn’t know that the mountain right next to it would collapse. ……

The “this river” referred to by the resident is the Suzu Oya River that runs through the district. There were no signs of flooding in the river, but the surface of the mountain to the east was gouged out. Perhaps a large-scale landslide had occurred. The surrounding area was covered with a large amount of earth and sand, and many of the houses were completely buried at the ground floor level.

Nie district, Pearl City. This is the town where the salt fields were filmed for the NHK TV series “Mare” that aired from March to September 2003. Like the Oya district, the area around here is covered with earth and sand, and when walking, one’s legs sink down into the sand.

It’s impossible to move on from here,” said a resident who was working to clean up the area.

A resident who was working to clean up the area called out to us. The national highway had been cut off, and they were unable to continue.

Debris and driftwood were still caught in the wave-dissipating blocks and bridge pillars, and houses were still collapsed. …… What the cameraman saw was the reality of the spectacular disaster area. The devastation showed that a considerable amount of time would be required for recovery.