Photo/Illutration Junior high school students in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, arrive at a facility in Hakusan for a mass evacuation on Jan. 17. (Pool)

Twins Rei and Haru Tagami are among hundreds of junior high school students who evacuated en masse from their earthquake-ravaged town of Wajima on Jan. 17 to continue their education.

But their struggles are far from over.

The 15-year-olds, who are third-graders at Wajima Junior High School, communicate daily with their mother, Kaori, 49, on the Line app.

They tell her about their life at the evacuation facility in Hakusan, where they have taken refuge.

According to their mother, Haru sends her pictures each day of their three meals.

Recently, the children have received bento lunches.

Their mother said, “I am relieved to see some vegetables and fish now, since all they had been eating was instant ramen.”

Although Rei doesn’t message his mother himself, when she asks him, “How are you?” he replies with an “Yes” emoji.

Before their departure on Jan 17, both children said they were anxious about being away from their parents. Now they are also worried about the upcoming entrance exams for private high schools.

Their mother is anxious, too, after seeing in news reports that their classes haven’t even started yet.

According to the prefectural education board, classes are not yet being held at the evacuation site and the living accommodations are still being set up.

During the mass evacuation on Jan. 17, 258 of the 401 junior high school students in Wajima relocated to Hakusan, while many remained in Wajima.

A 14-year-old boy who is in the second grade did not evacuate with his classmates because he had originally planned to move to another prefecture with his family. However, that plan was canceled.

When he informed the school that he wanted to evacuate with the other students, the school refused his request, stating that they were over capacity.

According to the city’s education board, the facility currently housing the evacuated children is already completely full and cannot accept additional students.

Wajima city plans to provide a place where elementary and junior high students remaining in the city can get together by utilizing empty spaces available at some elementary schools starting from Jan. 24--but regular classes will not resume for some time.

The boy was given a tablet device by the school to take online classes instead.

“To be honest, it’s difficult to concentrate on my studies under these circumstances,” he said. 

(This article was written by Yohei Kobayakawa, Tetsuaki Otaki and Yunisu Mahar)

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