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Sakurai Caster reported in tonight’s’ News Zero about Mashiki-machi of Kumamoto Prefecture, which suffered from two earthquakes of magnitude 7.0 April last year.
There are a lot of area covered by blue sheets. Sakurai Caster visited Kiyama Shrine and saw that it was largely destroyed. The main building was heavily destroyed and fell as it was and is yet recovered.
Around 98% of all the buildings in Mashiki-machi were damaged during the earthquakes, around 2,500 residential homes are dismantled while around 1,200 are yet dismantled. Currently there are still over 7,600 residents on evacuation.
Sakurai Caster visited a temporary shelter complex in the prefecture and interviewed Miyata family. The temporary home was not spacious, accommodating the family of seven family members. The Miyata family’s home was totally destroyed during the earthquake, around three months since the earthquake the family lived in the father’s company, and then they moved to the temporary home.
Sakurai Caster: Currently what is the most difficult thing to you?
Miyata-san: The children going to school. The school is about 10km far from here.
Sakurai Caster: (Asking children) Is it tough coming back home (from school)?
Yu-san (second daughter): Yes.
Sakurai Caster: The bus doesn’t reach here?
Yu-san: (Nod)
Originally the children spent around five minutes to go to school, now they need to take bus which comes once every hour and this causes great burden to the children.
In addition, there is limited space as playground for the children taking shelter. The children led Sakurai Caster to the temporary shopping street with seven shops. Sakurai Caster visited Yano-san who is the owner of shop “Okamoto Shop”. The signature purin of the shop is handmade by Yano-san using the oven which is originally in the shop. The shop together with many kitchenwares was destroyed during the earthquake. Yano-san said since the oven still functions so he thinks that “Ah, let’s make purin”.
They visited the vacant place which the shop, now dismantled, originally stood upon. Only the billboard was left. Though Yano-san wants to re-build the shop there is no progress. In order to “make the machi resistant to disasters” there is plan to expand the two-traffic-lane road in front of the shop to four traffic lanes. Because of this, around 300 shops and residential buildings along the road cannot be re-built on the original land.
Yano-san: The cars will frequently pass over the shop. My ancestors have had the business on this place, and now on this shop… (weep) on this shop, the cars will pass on it. To my ancestors, I feel guilt / regretful.
On the other hand there are people who gradually return to original life. Matsumoto-san the farmer showed us the big cracks in the farm field last October. Water was not able to be drawn, so no rice-growing was possible last year. But this month there is change. There are shovel cars across the field for repair work. The repair work is going well, there is possibility to farm this year.
Sakurai Caster concluded that during his visit he saw many vacant land, building destroyed during the earthquakes were dismantled, there was feeling of revival, on the other hand, there are people who cannot live as they used to be and there are deep wounds in terms of the feeling of the people living there. It is nearly one year since the earthquakes, it is important not to forget the earthquake.
