Photo/Illutration The New Year’s Day earthquake caused the ground to crack and collapse at Wajima Junior High School in Ishikawa Prefecture. (Tatsuya Shimada)

WAJIMA, Ishikawa Prefecture--City officials here are asking 401 children to temporarily leave their families and relocate about 100 kilometers to the south until safety is restored at their quake-damaged junior high schools.

“Since we are uncertain about when children can safely attend school, we want to ensure their learning opportunities,” the Wajima city board of education said.

The request for the “mass evacuation” from Wajima, one of the hardest-hit areas in the New Year’s Day disaster, has left students and their guardians with a tough decision.

Tadashi Ogawa, head of the board, told reporters on Jan. 11 that the 401 students are from three schools in the city.

The board notified parents of these children about the evacuation plan on Jan. 10 using a communication app. It was expected to check the responses by 1 p.m. on Jan. 12.

Ogawa emphasized that the evacuation is not mandatory, and that the consent of the children’s guardians is required.

Those who agree to move will stay at one of two prefectural youth learning facilities in Hakusan in the southern part of Ishikawa Prefecture.

They will take classes at either these facilities or at nearby junior high schools, according to the board.

The board is also making arrangements for teachers and staff members in Wajima to work at the learning facilities in Hakusan.

Water supplies have remained cut off in the northern part of the Noto Peninsula, including Wajima, since the Jan. 1 earthquake.

At Wajima Junior High School, half the playground has cracked and caved in. The commuting route to the school has also been heavily damaged.

Toyo Junior High School and Monzen Junior High School in Wajima are also uncertain about when their school buildings can be used safely again.

“The reopening of junior high schools is very challenging,” Ogawa said. “We made this decision to ensure that our children have the opportunity to learn.”

Wajima Junior High School is now an evacuation center for more than 600 people.

Wajima’s regional disaster prevention plan states that if a large part of the city is severely damaged, schools and public facilities near evacuation sites will serve as alternative educational facilities.

However, “the damage far exceeds expectations,” Ogawa said.

He stressed that it will be a “temporary evacuation,” not a transfer to a new school.

“We are hoping that they could return (to Wajima) in about two months,” he said.

He also said the city will make plans for the students who chose to remain in the city.

“We would like to make adjustments so that there will be no differences in what they can learn,” Ogawa said.

Elementary school students are excluded from the evacuation plan because they are considered too young to leave their parents.

DIFFICULT CHOICE

Kazumi Miyaki, 49, a company employee who resides in Wajima, is leaning toward sending her first-year junior high school daughter to Hakusan.

“If she falls behind in her studies, it could affect her high school entrance exams,” the mother said.

A 41-year-old company employee, whose second son attends a junior high school in Wajima, said the family remains undecided. He quoted the son as saying, “I want to stay because my friends are not going.”

The father says he wants his son to study in a safe environment away from the water outages and aftershocks in Wajima.

But he is also worried about the mental impact on his son if he remains apart from his close friends.

(This article was written by Michitaka Sato, Shun Nakamura and Shintaro Shiiki.)

Related News