KANAZAWA: Central Japan areas hit hard by the 7.6-magnitude Noto Peninsula earthquake began to make some progress toward reconstruction three months after the Jan. 1 disaster.

In the hard-hit Ishikawa Prefecture city of Wajima, its famous morning market achieved a reopening through a pop-up event held in the prefecture’s capital of Kanazawa. The prefectural government, for its part, released an outline of an upcoming reconstruction plan before fiscal 2024 starts on Monday.

The temblor registered a seismic intensity of up to 7, highest on the Japanese scale.

As of Friday, the death toll in Ishikawa stood at 244, including 15 who died of indirect causes related to the disaster, with over 8,000 people still living in shelters.

The prefecture’s data as of Friday showed that over 75,000 homes were damaged in the disaster. The number of evacuees decreased by about 3,000 from a month before to around 8,100, including 3,500 staying in secondary evacuation facilities such as hotels and “ryokan” inns.

A total of 894 emergency temporary housing units had been completed as of Tuesday.

Water supply disruptions have been gradually resolved in many disaster-affected areas. But running water remains unavailable in most of the hard-hit city of Suzu.

About 4,250 households in Suzu were without running water as of Friday. In Wajima, the number stood at 2,600.

One of the major positive developments was the March 16 opening of the 125-kilometer extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen bullet train line between Kanazawa and Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, an Ishikawa neighbor. A state-backed travel discount program to boost tourism in disaster-affected areas also started in March.

As for the Wajima morning market, which had remained shut since the disaster struck, the March 23 pop-up event attracted many shoppers and visitors.

The Ishikawa government Thursday published an outline of the nine-year reconstruction plan through fiscal 2032, saying that it will aim to protect and enhance the charm of the Noto Peninsula region, not only implementing postdisaster restoration. The prefecture also vowed to revitalize the region’s traditional industries and local communities.

JIJI Press