Photo/Illutration A resident tries to fix fusuma sliding doors at his home in Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture, on May 6. (Nobuhiro Shirai)

SUZU, Ishikawa Prefecture--Minoko Inari has taken to sleeping with a hard hat for protection against earthquake swarms, as well as the cold. 

The 78-year-old widow lamented that a tansu chest of drawers toppled over in the latest big earthquake on May 5, which prompted her to evacuate to a community center in the city as she has had no one at home to help her since her husband died four years ago.

She remains filled with a sense of unease, something that many residents here understand only too well.

Suzu had the distinction of being the least populated city in the Honshu mainland of Japan. The city’s website says Suzu had of population of 12,795 as of April 30. As of Oct. 1 last year, according to the data, residents aged 65 or older accounted for 52.8 percent of the population.

The earthquake that struck May 5 had an intensity of upper 6 on the Japanese scale of 7. As a result, many of the city’s elderly residents flocked to evacuation centers to spend a restless night.

At the Shoin community center close to the city center, up to 70 residents sought shelter.

Some spent the night in their cars in the center’s parking lot.

The evacuees, mostly elderly, made an early start May 6 and could be seen eating breakfast with hot miso soup served by locals while they chatted with each other.

“I felt a rocking motion that kept repeating,” said a 62-year-old resident. “They were powerful and went on for a long time, which was very different from last year’s earthquake. I had never experienced a quake like that.”

The woman said she was fearful of aftershocks hitting and evacuated to the community center.

Although she returned to her home in the morning to clean up, she was not sure if it would be safe to sleep there in the evening.

“What should I do tonight?” she said. “I’m still wondering if I should go back to the evacuation center.”

That same sense of unease is what gnaws at Inari. She is so worried about swarm earthquakes that have struck the region in recent years that she keeps a helmet as protection when she goes to bed.

“We can’t predict what will happen or when,” she said.

Many residents quickly assessed the damage to their homes and started a clean-up effort from the morning, such as hanging tarps over roofs and other areas exposed to the elements.

Then came another problem, heavy rain.

The downpour started in the city before 7 a.m.

A 75-year-old man looked helpless as he said: “I heard the rain will not go away for a while. I’m worried if I will be able to do a proper clean-up.”

Yasuhito Deba, 55, started clearing up at his kimono shop that same night.

A glass door in the shop was broken, so he covered it with a tarp.

It was 3 a.m. when he finally went to bed. He was back on his feet to clear up just hours later.

“Even if I fix it, another earthquake may hit. It is quite depressing, really,” he said wearily.

Nadako Sawada, 81, had a lot on her plate with fallen roof tiles, indoor clay walls peeling and collapsed kitchen shelves.

A water leakage forced her to shut off the water supply at the mains, so she was unable to take a bath or use the toilet.

Now she is worried about her leaking roof.

“I don’t know what to do,” she said with a bewildered expression.

(This article was written by Kazuhiro Takeda and Hiroyuki Kojima.)

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