Photo/Illutration Junior high school students board a mass evacuation bus in Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Jan. 21. (Taku Hosokawa)

A total of 142 junior high school students from heavily quake-damaged areas of Ishikawa Prefecture evacuated en masse to a facility in Kanazawa city on Jan. 21.

The students hailed from Suzu city and Noto town.

According to the prefectural education board and other sources, 102 of 199 students from four junior high schools in Suzu were evacuated, accompanied by eight teachers and school nurses.

From Noto, 40 of 247 students from four junior high schools were evacuated, accompanied by six teachers.

All students were relocated with the consent of their parents.

The students from Suzu and Noto will stay at the same facility for an expected period of one to two months. They will live in shared rooms, divided by school and grade level, and will have access to study rooms.

According to the board, new semester will start at all elementary and junior high schools in Suzu and Noto by Jan. 22.

Suzu city officials explained that the group evacuation plan will also allow students who had already evacuated to Kanazawa independently to rejoin their mass-evacuated classmates and continue to learn together.

If students who have evacuated collectively wish to return home, they will be provided a means to do so.

The board has also been evacuating students attending prefectural high schools in affected areas to hotels in Kanazawa since Jan. 15.

On Jan. 21, the prefectural government also announced that many cities and towns with their water supplies cut off should see their water temporarily restored between the end of February and the end of March.

According to the prefectural government, as of Jan 21, 232 people have been killed by the earthquake and 22 people remain unaccounted for.

The number of damaged houses increased to 34,400.

(This article was written by Eriko Nami and Chiaki Ogihara.)

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