Photo/Illutration Residents receive water at a water station in Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, on March 23. (Kenichi Araumi)

Nearly 100 residents remain evacuated from their homes and 1,000 households have no drinking water in Fukushima Prefecture a week after the powerful offshore earthquake caused extensive infrastructure damage.

On the morning of March 23, 97 people were still taking shelter at seven evacuation centers in the prefecture, according to the Cabinet Office.

The late-night quake on March 16 knocked out water supplies to up to 70,000 households in five prefectures.

As of March 23, residents of 992 homes in Soma, Minami-Soma and Shinchi in Fukushima Prefecture were without running water, the health ministry said.

The quake had an intensity of upper 6 on the Japanese seismic scale of 7 in Soma. The city has started a trial run of distributing water for washing and bathing. But the municipal government is warning residents not to drink that water because quality inspections have not been done.

Drinking water is now available at 13 water stations set up by the city.

On March 23, Soma residents showed up at one of the water stations at a community facility.
Among them was Shizuko Mori, 74, who lives with her husband and their son’s family.

“I come here two to three times a day to get water for cooking,” Mori said as she received 10 liters of water with her husband. “I am hoping that we can drink tap water soon.”

Many houses in Soma were damaged by the temblor.

Yoshiki Tanno, 72, said he had to make two trips in a light truck to dispose of quake-broken roof tiles at a temporary yard for waste.

He said his tatami mats have been ruined by the rain now leaking into his home.

Neighboring Miyagi Prefecture also suffered damage in the quake.

In the Miyagi town of Yamamoto, the rooftop of Tadao Konno’s wooden house was covered with a blue tarpaulin to prevent water from dripping inside.

“In terms of rain leaking in, the damage from the quake is greater than that from the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011,” said Konno, a 68-year-old farmer.

The March 16 quake recorded an intensity of lower 6 in the town. The strong shaking displaced the roof tiles, allowing rain to leak through at more than 10 spots in Konno’s house.

Konno managed to get the roof covered with the tarpaulin on March 21 before it snowed the following day.

But he said he does not know when workers can completely fix his house because so many other people also need to have their homes repaired.

According to the Yamamoto town hall, officials have received disaster certificate requests for more than 200 structures since the application procedure started on March 22.

The number is expected to increase.

“We anticipate a total of 1,000 applications for the certificates,” a town official said.

Three quake-related deaths were reported in Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, and 238 people were injured in 12 prefectures, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency.

In five prefectures, including Miyagi and Fukushima, six buildings were destroyed, 16 seriously damaged and 1,142 partially damaged, according to local authorities.

(This article was written by Sakiko Kondo, Kenichi Araumi and Hidemasa Yoshizawa.)

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