I pray for the souls of those who lost their lives in the Noto Peninsula earthquake, and
I hope that those who are suffering in the affected areas can get out of their situations as soon as possible.
I myself was affected by the disaster while visiting relatives in the cities of Suzu and Wajima.
After 5 days of isolation, I was able to return to my parents' home near Kanazawa with my grandfather and others.
It has been some time since I returned to my home away from the disaster area,
but as time goes by, I feel that the difficulty is getting deeper.
I would like to write down the situation at that time as an outlet or a reminder.
Noon of the day
This New Year's holiday, the couple spent the New Year's Eve in Kanazawa, near their parents' home.
It was a short New Year's vacation for both the couple, who were scheduled to start work on the 4th.
They planned to return home on the 2nd, feeling bad about only going to their parents' house.
On January 1, we were to visit our parents, sister, and brother's family and relatives in Noto.
My parents insisted on taking their dog with them, so it was a large group of nine people and one dog.
We had three cars: my parents' car, my sister's car, and my brother's family's car.
We, my wife and I, got in my sister's car.
We left Kanazawa a little after 8:00 and arrived in Pearl Island before 11:00.
We all gathered at my grandfather's house in Suzu.
It had been a year since we had been to my grandfather's house,
and the kitchen walls were a little cleaner.
The walls in the kitchen were a little cleaner, apparently they had been repaired because they were rattled by the earthquake in May.
The bathtub, which we couldn't get into, had also been fixed up nicely.
We gave New Year's money to my brother's niece and nephew and
we all competed with each other for the prawns in the Osechi (Japanese New Year's meal).
We decided to go for a quick Hatsumode (New Year's visit) and went to the nearby Haguro Shrine.
A classmate of my father's is a Shinto priest.
And here, too, he said that he was indebted to us for the earthquake that hit the area in May.
We were also greedy and went to Susu Shrine.
We went to Susu Shrine for the first time.
We went up the long flight of stairs, supporting my grandfather, whose legs were getting weak.
Grandfather sometimes unexpectedly expressed his weakness.
He said, "This may be the last time I can come here.
I was surprised to see that my grandfather's legs were a few steps weaker than the ones I remember.
He seemed happy that he was able to climb the stairs and visit the temple.
We returned to my grandfather's house, also looking at the sea of Takojima.
At my grandfather's house, I did a LiDAR scan of a room I had wanted to try.
While thinking about buying a new iPad at Apple's first sale, I wanted to do something I could only do with my current iPad Pro.
It was only on the first floor because it was a hassle, but I was able to capture the New Year's scenery of Okunoto.
I got really lazy and the time to stop by Wajima was getting pushed back and back.
At my uncle's house, my cousin's fiancée was also scheduled to come and meet us.
We were going to leave for Wajima at 3:00 p.m.
I was busy getting rice cakes made for the New Year and sending the last pictures to my grandmother's phone.
Suzu to Wajima
We left Suzu and drove on, hoping to reach Wajima by 16:30.
At this rate, it was going to be well past midnight before we returned to Kanazawa.
My father's car was first, then my brother's, and finally our car.
It was an unusually nice day and the view from the ocean side road was nice.
We were in a hurry to get to Wajima, but my father's car pulled into a pocket park in Senmaida.
My sister is half pissed. We are almost to Wajima, and she wants us to at least hold out for a bathroom.
We had no choice but to park my brother's car and my sister's car at Senmaida.
Because we were going all this way, everyone wanted to get out, use the restroom, and see the roadside station.
Disaster
I was just returning to my car from the bathroom.
A big tremor came.
I immediately heard an earthquake early warning on my cell phone.
The nearby disaster radio was also broadcasting that there was a major earthquake.
I ran to my wife and sister in the parking lot.
The shaking subsided rather quickly.
All the family members gathered around and looked at each other anxiously.
I immediately called my grandparents in Suzhou, but none of the family members' cell phones would connect.
My wife was very anxious. They had only been married for a short time.
It was a scary situation, and we were at a roadside station that we didn't know.
As we were trying to call our grandparents,
an even bigger tremor came.
This time I couldn't stand.
I fell on the asphalt.
My dog was sniffling and scared.
My wife was crying and slumped down.
We just rubbed her back and endured the shaking, hoping that she would be okay.
We were so disoriented that we did not know when the shaking stopped.
Everyone thought that the shaking must not have been good enough for the grandparents in Pearl.
Everyone continued to try to make phone calls.
They finally connected after calling my grandmother's cell phone from the company cell phone she happened to have.
My grandparents were safe.
We put them on speaker and everyone heard their voices.
I hear the house was no good.
Anyway, all I remember is how relieved I was that my grandparents were safe.
After this, it was all I could do to keep track of the situation.
I had no idea what my situation was at the moment.
I think the tsunami warning came over the disaster radio.
Fortunately, the roadside station was on a high place, and as long as I was there, I was fine.
There were about 20 cars and 80 people at the roadside station.
Everyone was fidgeting in the parking lot and talking to their families.
A young man in the car next to us, who said he was from Nagoya, asked,
Are you a local? What's the situation? He spoke to me.
Everywhere, people seemed to be starting to exchange information.
To be honest, I didn't really feel like I had been affected by the disaster.
I knew that my phone was not connected to the Internet.
I could see that people were running away from the concession stands and that everyone seemed to be safe.
I knew I had to keep driving to Pearl Island or Wajima to check on the safety of my relatives.
And I knew I had to get back to Kanazawa as soon as possible.
My father said that we would not be able to go to either Pearl Island or Wajima because the roads were no good.
It was getting late in the day with somewhat fluffy thoughts.
At any rate, everyone decided to go back to the car.
My brother finally noticed a large crack in the ground right in front of the car.
He was afraid that maybe the whole car would have fallen into it and he would have been in trouble.
Then again, it didn't feel real at all. It felt like we had just stopped at a roadside station for a little while longer.
The car just wouldn't start driving to either Pearl Island or Wajima.
Day 1 (night)
The roadside station was also a temporary shelter.
But no one from the district came in particular, almost all of them tourists who were passing by on the road like ourselves.
When the sun went down and it was dark, we finally understood that we were isolated here.
No stores, no vending machines, no houses of any kind, no lights on.
Only the headlights of cars illuminated the parking lot, and I knew this was unusual.
There was no particular facility to evacuate, everyone was in their cars.
When we came to, we noticed that the concessionaires were outside handing out their wares.
They were giving away crackers and sakiika for the evening meal.
Another person knocked on my car window several times during the night.
"Please use the wet wipes if you like,"
"Please eat the oranges if you like,"
"Please take a warmer for each of you,"
and many other people called out to us.
I was conversing with my wife and sister about how grateful we were.
I was vaguely thinking that we would have to spend the night in the car.
It was getting cold, and I had turned on the car heater and charged my phone.
Only my company cell phone could see a little internet, and I was watching NHK on my phone.
I learned that the earthquake was pretty bad, that it was intensity 7, and that there was even a tsunami warning.
The disaster radio broadcast that there was a fire in Wajima. The sky in the direction of Wajima seemed bright.
On occasion, the sky would suddenly brighten, and I thought something might be exploding, but I couldn't imagine how big it might be.
I began to think that I should report my safety to my wife's parents.
Anyway, I sent an SMS from my company cell phone to my wife's parents to let them know I was safe.
I thought the others might be worried too, so I tethered my cell phone to theirs and let them know that everyone was in touch.
I just sent a text message to Facebook to let them know that I was safe.
I also sent back other messages saying that I was safe, and then returned them with a carefree "New Year's greetings" message.
However, there were a few aftershocks.
Each time, I got out of the car and checked on him.
We discussed whether we should be concerned about the gasoline in the car and turned off the engine.
My father came around to the car and suggested that we put it on the full flat and sleep on the floor.
We all slept with our shoes on so we could get out of the car quickly.
The night was colder than we had imagined.
I couldn't sleep because the cold was coming around my feet.
My wife was tired and fell asleep quickly, occasionally waking up from the shaking.
We occasionally got out of the car and took a walk around.
The shimmering of the rice paddies of Senmaida was beautiful.
There were more stars in the sky than I had ever seen before.
I wondered idly if someone would come to the rescue tomorrow.
It was a really long and hard night.
2 days
At about 6:30, it was getting light outside.
We got out of the car and took a walk around.
Finally, we got an idea of the extent of the damage.
There was a large crack in the ground in the parking lot.
In the concession stand, shelves had fallen over and things were strewn about.
A car was stuck in a sinkhole.
It was understood that we could be trapped in this place for a week or more.
My father suggested that we get water from an irrigation canal somewhere, since we couldn't flush the toilet.
Yes, indeed, the toilet was quickly becoming a problem.
The grandfather of the district gathered trash cans, buckets, and other things.
My father and brother went to fetch water and flushed the toilet. It worked.
It was decided that the nearby irrigation canal would be good enough for the toilet, so the grandfather of the community fetched a lot of water with his light truck.
Slowly, there was an atmosphere of wisdom and a willingness to do something about it.
As we were doing so, I was surprised when he suddenly called me by my nickname from high school.
There was a classmate at the same roadside station.
I was really surprised to see him again under such circumstances,
and I felt somewhat at ease as we talked about the old days and asked him about his recent situation.
My mother began to talk about baking the New Year's rice cakes that she had brought from Suzu.
We got out the stove, laid out some aluminum foil, and began to bake the rice cakes.
My wife and mother baked the rice cakes and served them to everyone.
It seemed that there were about five other small children who were happy to eat them.
I was happy that my grandparents' rice cakes in Pearl seemed to be helping a stranger.
A cookout was also started, led by the people at the stalls.
They made rice balls with rice and pickles that were probably brought from their own homes.
The rice cookers were also made using propane gas from the back of the store.
Although there were many helicopters flying that day, no help eventually arrived.
However, there was a good atmosphere as everyone who was there and in the concession stand and district worked together, brought things in and
tried to make it work and endure together for a few days.
It was a beautiful sunny day, a rarity in Hokuriku.
In the large parking lot, children who did not understand the situation were having a great time.
My father told us that if we went a little further down the road, we could find a place where we could get cell phone service.
My wife and sister and I went to pick up the signal.
We were in a place where we could see Wajima. Smoldering smoke was drifting over the ocean.
The internet was connected, but I was also concerned about my phone's battery, so I only made minimal contact.
I called my wife and my company.
Another night came.
It was a hard night after knowing how cold and hard it was.
I decided to sleep with my feet in a garbage bag. It was warmer than yesterday.
We kept the engine off to save more gas.
It started raining hard and it got cold, so I decided to start the engine a little.
But maybe I was charging my phone too much, or maybe the battery was running low and the engine wouldn't start.
That was the most desperate moment I can recall. It was raining so hard that I couldn't even ask for help from other cars.
We just endured until morning.
3 days
The sky was overcast, typical of northern Japan, with a sprinkle of rain.
I noticed that I couldn't look up the weather forecast on my phone.
I wondered if it would be cold today, and thought it would be even harder if it started snowing.
After spending the second night in the cold car, everyone was starting to get tired.
At about 8:30, we noticed a helicopter sounding awfully close.
It was a firefighting helicopter. Something was being broadcast over the speakers.
They were asking people to move their cars out of the parking lot?
All the people started thrashing about.
The crew came down with ropes.
They want all the cars out of the parking lot at the roadside station and onto the road.
He says he is here to pick up the sick and those in need of rescue who have been reported.
It seemed that the person with the illness was able to call for help.
The person was roped in and was taken to the helicopter.
After the helicopter flew away, everyone at the roadside station started moving their cars.
In an ill-timed move, our car had run out of battery power the night before.
My father and brother are bright about car maintenance.
Another person from Nagoya seemed to be in the road service business.
I don't know who helped us, but one of them lent us a booster cable, and
we were able to start our car with a dead battery right away.
However, there were still 4 cars in the parking lot that were not moving.
The owners of the cars were not at the roadside station no matter how hard we looked for them.
They seemed to have evacuated on foot to Wajima and other places.
Each situation was different.
Some doors opened, some had the side brakes pulled, some had the steering wheel cut off, ...
Those with moving tires were towed with ropes to shift them.
If the doors don't open, jack them up and pull them on a dolly.
Inevitably, the only thing we couldn't do was the large car with the doors locked.
The car was too big to even be put on a dolly.
We were not even sure if the side brakes were engaged.
We had no choice but to break a small window pane and open the door.
When all the cars were out of the way, the helicopter came again.
The helicopter came again and helped another person in need of rescue.
I think it was a pregnant woman. She must have been really inconsolable.
There was still a person with an injured leg who remained unrescued.
It may have been difficult to fish him out to the helicopter.
A Self-Defense Force helicopter came and rescued the person, this time landing in the parking lot.
We all hoped that all of them were safe, and we all waved the helicopter off with that thought.
By this time, there were several people who had walked to Wajima from the neighboring town of Minamishimi.
Also, the district disaster prevention officer and the fire brigade came.
The next district explained urgently that they had no water or food and were running low on kerosene.
The concession stand, which had not been cleared out before, was put away and
everyone was invited to spend the day together.
The locals also loaned us a generator.
We all gave each other some coins and put out all the drinks from the vending machines. We also charged our phones.
With everyone gathered in the building, we could see each other more.
Yet the night was still cold.
4th
A helicopter arrived early that morning.
The SDF helicopter helped those in need of rescue.
All the while, we were beginning to think that we, without a single illness, would be a lot further along.
But perhaps because it was a sunny day, we really felt at ease that day.
During the day, we played with the children.
Everyone was playing with the children again.
We drew, played ball, and got along well with each other.
The power was out and the pay telescope outside was free.
There were many ships of the Japan Coast Guard and Self-Defense Forces offshore, and everyone was enjoying watching them through the telescopes.
The Self-Defense Forces hovercraft were coming and going all the time.
My wife baked rice cakes and took care of the children.
My brother was dusting off his feet to dry them in the sun because they were starting to smell.
We were told that there were a lot of turban shells being launched.
The young men from Nagoya came back with a basket full of turban shells.
They built a fire in a U-shaped ditch and grilled the turban shells.
The concession stand also gave out blueberries, probably for sale, to everyone.
Both of these were products that we had not thought of, even though the earthquake probably had a lot to do with it, with the land rising up and the freezers being out of service.
Now came the Land Self-Defense Force helicopter.
They left water and food for us at a place a little further away.
Even though we had come this far, the night was still hard.
I had been longing for a blanket.
And then, around 1 am, the Self-Defense Forces arrived at the shelter.
They walked from Wajima to deliver the blankets.
This was a real surprise.
They wrapped the blankets around our bodies and delivered about 50 blankets on foot in the middle of the night.
The blankets were so warm, I felt like someone was there to support me in my isolation.
5 days
In the morning, a helicopter came and transported a person with fever.
A group of young people from Nagoya decided to walk to the next district,
and everyone at the roadside station saw them off.
It started with the wet wipes they gave us,
and then moving the cars, handling the vending machines, turbaning, taking care of the children, etc.
It was really their presence that kept everyone's spirits up.
I began to think that I was going to miss them, and that
that I should really be past the start of work, too.
After a while, a helicopter from the Metropolitan Police Department arrived.
Tomorrow the weather will be bad and the helicopter will not be able to fly.
They came to tell us that they would take everyone outside the isolated area today.
At once, the roadside station began to flap.
Where is the list, how many people are there, where are the families with children,
Pack up your belongings, leave your car keys, etc.
The first flight of the Metropolitan Police Department helicopter took the families away.
We had a little niece, a nephew, and a big dog. 9 people, 1 dog.
We were discussing having just my brother's family go first.
One day a helicopter from the Osaka Prefectural Police arrived and decided to transport everyone at once.
The destination was Suzu.
When we got on the helicopter, I cried a little.
Everyone at the roadside station waved to us.
As the helicopter took off, the scenery we saw was beautiful Noto, but
the landslides blocking the road were beyond imagination.
When we got to Suzu, many buildings had collapsed.
5th Suzhou
I was helicoptered down to my father's alma mater.
I later learned that this scene was covered on the TV news.
My brother's family was being interviewed.
In the gymnasium that served as a shelter, there were various people huddled together, including elderly people sitting in pipe chairs and
foreigners who were probably here on technical training.
Unlike the isolated roadside station,
we were surprised to see the police, fire department, Self-Defense Forces, and various other people coming to support us.
I walked with my father and brother to pick up my grandfather.
My grandmother had gone to Kanazawa to do some shopping.
My grandfather was holed up in a nearby elementary school.
It seemed he was sleeping and waking on a mat in the gymnasium.
When I saw him, I was so relieved to see him in person, unhurt and safe.
Now we headed to my grandparents' house.
When I saw the collapsed houses, collapsed roads, and fallen telephone poles,
I realized once again that this was the Great Earthquake.
The house had collapsed with the first floor down.
I felt it was a miracle that my grandparents were able to come out of this house.
The light car in the barn was safe.
We picked up my grandfather and returned to the middle school shelter where we had left our wives and other family members in the light truck and the two cars we had used for evacuation.
My brother's family was ready to drive home from Kanazawa to pick him up.
My parents, sister, and my wife and I decided to return to Kanazawa in the light car and light truck from Suzu.
The road from Suzu to Kanazawa was badly damaged.
Collapsed houses and police and fire departments promoting rescue were visible in many places.
There were landslides everywhere on the Suzu road, and in some places traffic was alternating.
I was moved to tears when I saw the Red Cross, Kansai Electric Power Company, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, KDDI, and other support vehicles passing by.
Ahead of Noto Airport, there were one-way traffic restrictions.
From Anamizu, we could see some broken buildings on the seashore, perhaps from the tsunami.
We were able to take the Noto Satoyama Kaido from Tokuda Otsu.
It took us about 5 hours to travel the distance that usually takes a little over 2 hours.
We felt that even with this, we had managed to recover from our isolation.
When I got back to Kanazawa, when I took a bath for the first time in five days, when I could brush my teeth, when I could connect to the Internet,
when I could see my grandmother in Kanazawa, I felt grateful for everything.
---
The police helicopter changed the situation at once, and I was able to return to my home in Kanto on the 6th.
I am back to my normal routine, but when I think of the families in Ishikawa, those still in isolated areas, and the cases I see on the news,
I am still not at ease at all, and I am rather frustrated that I cannot do anything.
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