Photo/Illutration Children spend the evening at an evacuation center in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Jan. 5. (Hikaru Uchida)

About 250 junior high school students will be evacuated to another city in southern Ishikawa Prefecture, officials of the quake-stricken city of Wajima announced on Jan. 15.

“We will try to provide classes that cover the regular curriculum as much as possible,” said Tadashi Ogawa, who heads the Wajima municipal board of education. “We hope to have the students home within two months.”

With approval from their families, more than half of the city’s 401 junior high school students will be relocated to Hakusan, about 100 kilometers south of their hometown.

All three municipal junior high schools in Wajima are being used as shelters for people displaced by the powerful earthquake that struck the region on New Year’s Day. Some of the school buildings suffered severe damage.

Separated from their families, the students will depart on Jan. 17 for educational facilities in Hakusan, which will serve as their temporary home and school.

In the neighboring city of Suzu, 102 of its 199 junior high school students are also hoping for a group evacuation, but Mayor Masuhiro Izumiya said he hasn’t decided yet where to send the students.

As of Jan. 15, only one of the city’s four municipal junior high schools has reopened after the disaster.

The prefecture published the first list of victims of the quake on Jan. 15. With consent from their bereaved families, officials disclosed the names, addresses, sexes, ages and causes of death for 23 people.

“(The disclosure) is in the public’s interest,” said Ishikawa Governor Hiroshi Hase. “It allows us to honor the deceased and inform their friends and loved ones of their passing.”

As of 2 p.m. on Jan. 16, the death toll from the quake stood at 222, according to the prefecture.

The figure includes 14 deaths believed to have not been a direct result of the magnitude-7.6 quake.

There were 22 people missing or unaccounted for.

Two weeks after the earthquake, the governor said he has prioritized securing places for the victims to live in and restoring lifelines.

"Communications are cut off, roads are destroyed and public servants are also affected by the disaster,” Hase said. “We are not yet in a situation in which we can fully respond (to the victims' needs).”

The full extent of the damage is still not clear, he added.

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