Photo/Illutration Quake victims receive water at the Wajima city government building in Ishikawa Prefecture on Jan. 4. (Hikaru Uchida)

Gastrointestinal infectious diseases, including the norovirus, are spreading in evacuation centers sheltering victims of the New Year’s Day earthquake in Ishikawa Prefecture.

About 30 cases had been confirmed by Jan. 8 in evacuation centers and nursing care facilities in the prefecture, health minister Keizo Takemi said on Jan. 9.

The ministry has dispatched a disaster infection control support team, including two specialists from the National Center for Global Health and Medicine, to the prefecture.

4.7 BILLION YEN FOR RELIEF SUPPLIES

The government decided at a Cabinet meeting on Jan. 9 to spend 4.74 billion yen ($33 million) in reserve funds set aside in the fiscal 2023 budget to provide relief supplies to areas trying to recover from the Jan. 1 magnitude-7.6 earthquake. Most of the hardest-hit municipalities are in the Noto Peninsula.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida later said at a meeting of the Headquarters for Emergency Disaster Response that the government will not wait for requests for help from the affected areas.

“We will swiftly execute this allocation to accelerate push-type support, with the hope of using it to improve the situation in the areas,” he said.

Separately, the government plans to increase the amount of reserve funds earmarked under the fiscal 2024 draft budget for disaster restoration and reconstruction measures. The amount is currently 500 billion yen.

DEATH TOLL TOPS 200

The Ishikawa prefectural government said on Jan. 9 that the death toll from the earthquake has climbed to 202, and 102 people are missing.

As of 4 p.m. on Jan. 8, 70,395 households, mainly in Ishikawa Prefecture, were without water, health ministry officials said.

They also said 141 facilities for elderly residents lacked running water and 19 had no electricity.

Twenty-six facilities for people with disabilities were without water, and power was cut off at three.

One first-aid center had no running water.

The Japan Water Works Association has dispatched 82 water trucks to the prefecture.

Takemi said at the health ministry’s emergency control headquarters meeting on Jan. 8 that additional water trucks will be sent to the disaster zone.

The ministry also said it would dispatch teams of public health nurses to disaster-hit areas to strengthen health management measures in anticipation of prolonged stays in evacuation centers.

With support from a wide range of municipalities, 14 teams of nurses have already been sent to affected areas, including Suzu city, Noto town, Anamizu town, Nanao city and the Ishikawa prefectural government office.

Starting on Jan. 9, an additional 11 teams of nurses will be dispatched to the cities of Wajima and Kanazawa.

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