Playback ’04] Landslides and collapsed houses… The moment that made the difference between life and death for the victims Report on the Niigata Chuetsu Earthquake

What did “FRIDAY” report 10, 20, or 30 years ago? In “Playback Friday,” we take a look back at the topics that were hot at the time. This time, we will introduce “The Niigata Chuetsu Earthquake: The Moment that Divided Life and Death of the Victims” from the November 19, 2004 issue, 20 years ago.

At 5:56 p.m. on October 23, 2004, the Chuetsu region was hit by an earthquake of magnitude 6.8 on the Japanese scale of 7, centered directly under Kawaguchi Town (now Nagaoka City) in Kita-uonuma County, Niigata Prefecture. This was the first earthquake of intensity 7 recorded since the Great Hanshin Earthquake in January 1995. This report closely follows the evacuees’ lives in the disaster-stricken area, where aftershocks continued (descriptions in parentheses below are taken from previous articles).

Walking through the disaster area with a seismic intensity of 7

The following is a recounting of the situation in the disaster-stricken area at the time.

The landslide site spread out as far as the eye could see. Roads collapsed for tens of meters. Carp fish ponds that were completely wiped out. Since the earthquake, our team has walked around Yamakoshi Village (now part of Nagaoka City), Kawaguchi Town, and other areas that sustained extensive damage, and has seen the most horrific scenes.

Since October 26, the affected areas have been hit by rain several times. And the rains have damaged not only the victims but also the mountains. The rainwater blocked by massive landslides has become a natural dam, submerging several villages. If the dam were to break, the mudslides would destroy the villages downstream without a trace.

As of November 2, the time of the interview, the death toll was 37. In a landslide in Myoko-cho, Nagaoka City, a mother and her three children were killed when their car was swallowed by mud and sand. A funeral service was held for the mother and daughter on November 2, but the body of the 3-year-old girl was still at the scene. The family of Mr. M (78 years old), who died in Kawaguchi Town, had been living in a warehouse where he had been living as an evacuee, with his portrait resting on the floor.

We were just on a trip and came back as soon as we found out about the earthquake,” said one of the family members. When we arrived at 2 a.m., we heard from someone nearby that our grandfather had passed away. When we rushed home, we found that the first floor had been crushed and the two-story house was now a one-story house.”

Most of the deaths immediately after the earthquake were caused by collapsed buildings. At the time of the interview, the Niigata Chuetsu Earthquake had caused 374 buildings to be totally destroyed and 683 to be half destroyed (later confirmed by the Fire and Disaster Management Agency, 3,174 buildings were totally destroyed and 13,810 half destroyed). What was the difference between life and death for the victims? In Ojiya City, three elementary school students were crushed to death by collapsed buildings.

The girl who died was taking a bath when the earthquake hit, and her grandmother told her to get dressed and come out as soon as possible. I heard her reply, “Hi~y,” but soon there was a strong aftershock and the beam of the house collapsed. It seems it hit her neck, and she stopped responding after that. People in the village desperately searched for him and tried to give him artificial respiration, but it didn’t work,” said a neighbor.

According to the victims’ stories, many houses collapsed because they could not withstand the strong aftershocks rather than the main quake. Some of the victims witnessed the moment their homes collapsed during an aftershock of intensity 6 on the Japanese scale, which occurred four days after the main quake.

In the July 2003 earthquake in northern Miyagi Prefecture, two aftershocks of intensity 6 or higher struck on the same day as the main quake. It would seem that evacuating outside one’s house immediately after an earthquake increases one’s chances of survival.

Houses with red survey sheets pasted here and there…

Walking around Kawaguchi Town, which was hit by an earthquake measuring 7 on the Japanese intensity scale, one could see many houses with red “Dangerous” labeled on them, even though they had not collapsed. Many of the residents were living in tents lined up in several places in the town.

“We would greet each other on the street or just stand around talking, but it’s strange to live together from morning till night, isn’t it?

An elderly woman told us in front of her collapsed house. She said she walks the road to her house and back two or three times a day because she feels depressed being cooped up in her tent.

Once lifelines were restored, the shelters were gone, and those who could not return to their homes had to live in temporary housing. Yamakoshi villagers were not the only ones forced to live in evacuation centers because of the danger of mudslides and submergence of villages due to the occurrence of natural dams in such circumstances. Odaka, in the southern part of Kawaguchi Town, was one such village.

The villagers said, “I don’t know when we will be able to go back to our homes because of the dam upstream. For the time being, we will live in temporary housing, but I don’t feel like returning to a village that was once hit by flooding. There are cracks in the surrounding mountains, and from now on I will be afraid of rain and snow as well as earthquakes. I have had enough of the fear of landslides,” said one affected resident.

Survivors are looking forward with great effort to regain their daily lives. However, the days of painful evacuation life continued.

Large aftershocks continued until December.

Even after the publication of this article, aftershocks continued. On November 8, when the body of the 3-year-old girl who was killed when her car was engulfed in sand and soil was finally recovered and a farewell party was held at her home, a violent tremor struck just as the casket was being unloaded. Aftershocks with a seismic intensity of 5 or higher continued to occur until December 28 of that year.

Of the 68 people who died in the quake, 52 were disaster-related deaths. In particular, stress and economy class syndrome caused by prolonged evacuation in cars became a problem, leading to the recognition of this syndrome. In addition, Niigata Prefecture suffered its heaviest snowfall in 19 years that year, and buildings damaged by the earthquake collapsed due to the snow accumulation.

It was not until October 2007 that a “return ceremony” was held in Yamakoshi Village, where the entire village was isolated by the earthquake and all of its approximately 2,200 residents were evacuated by helicopter. By this time, 1,400 people had returned to the village, about 70% of the pre-earthquake population.

The population of Yamakoshi Village is said to be less than 1,000 at present, due to depopulation and the aging of the population. However, the traditional bullfighting, “bulls horns tugging,” has been revived and is attracting tourists, and Nishikigoi farming, which was severely damaged by the earthquake, is so popular that foreign buyers are visiting the village. It seems that the “revival of traditional mountain life” that the villagers set forth in their reconstruction plan is still alive today.