“We can no longer live in our house,” lament those affected by the earthquake in Japan

Twenty-five minutes after earthquake that shook the center of Japan on New Year’s Day, a tsunami several meters high hit the town of Shiromarucausing devastation in this coastal community where mostly elderly people reside.

One person died, but the village’s nearly one hundred residents, like Yukio Teraoka and his wife, knew perfectly well the evacuation protocol, so they ran out of their houses and were able to flee in time to higher ground.

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“We can no longer live in our house“Teraoka, 82, told AFP that he and his wife are trying to remove with a shovel the soaked sand that entered their home with the seaquake.

“There are 30 kilos of rice” said his wife, who put on red rubber gloves, a wool hat and a protective mask, pointing to a refrigerator-sized container on the floor.

“But now that it is soaked by seawater, it is of no use.”he explained.

In other locations in the Noto peninsulaThe 7.5 magnitude earthquake also wreaked devastation, with a tangle of wood, metal and plastic debris covering the streets.

Piled up on the floor, you can see furniture, mattresses and shoes, as well as a soaked Snoopy stuffed animal, although in Shiromaruas in many rural towns in Japanthere are no school-age children.

According to a balance sheet on Saturday, the earthquake It left 126 dead and nearly 200 missing. More than 30,000 people are sheltered in shelters.

MORE INFORMATION: Earthquake in Japan of magnitude 7.6 and tsunami LIVE, news, aftershocks and latest news on victims and damages

“We have not received any help”

In Shiromaru only a few people worked Friday to clear the rubble, with little help from overwhelmed authorities.

“I don’t think we received equipment or food in substantial quantities“he told AFP Takushi Sakashitaa 59-year-old man who lives in a nearby area.

Sakashita explained that he did not want to collect food rations from a nearby shelter so they could distribute them to those who need them most.

“I myself try not to travel to save gasoline, because the gas stations are not working and there is a serious fuel shortage”he added.

Shiromaru is still accessible by road, but many communities remain isolated after hundreds of landslides left roads impassable.

Tens of thousands of residents are also deprived of electricity and running water.

“He tsunami came from the inlet across the river and then crossed the street“, he recounted Toshio Sakashita 69 years old, who estimates that his house was submerged by about 2.5 meters of water.

The waves swept away the lower floors of many wooden houses, sweeping away everything in their path.

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“We have not received any help from the authorities. Look, the main street is still blocked because of the rubble, which has not been moved”Sakashita added.

“We will have to stay in a shelter with everyone for about three monthsTeraoka stated. “Then, for two or three years, we will live in temporary residences, because the entire prefecture of Ishikawa was affected by the disaster”.

“Sooner or later we will die. We are already more than 80 years old“, said.

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