Japan’s areas worst-hit by New Year’s quake reopen some schools, resume rubbish collection
- Classes restarted at nearly 20 elementary, junior high and high schools in some of the hardest-hit towns, including Wajima and Noto, and many students returned
- Rubbish collectors were out for the first time since the quake in the town of Wajima, a relief for many who worried about deteriorating sanitation
The magnitude 7.6 earthquake on January 1 killed at least 222 people and injured thousands. More than 20 are still missing.
About 20,000 people, most of whom had their homes damaged or destroyed, have been sheltering in nearly 400 school gymnasiums, community centres and other makeshift facilities, according to the central government and the Ishikawa prefecture disaster data released on Monday.
Classes restarted at nearly 20 elementary, junior high and high schools Monday in some of the hardest-hit towns, including Wajima and Noto, and many students returned, but some, whose families were badly hit by the quake, were absent.
“I’m so glad to see you are back safely,” Keiko Miyashita, principal of the Kashima elementary school in the town of Wajima, on the northern coast of the Noto Peninsula, told schoolchildren.
Most of the schools in the prefecture have restarted, but about 50 are indefinitely closed due to quake damage. At Ushitsu elementary school in the town of Noto, children gathered for just one hour on Monday. Classes are to fully resume next week.
A part of a local train line through the town of Nanao also resumed on Monday.
