Photo/Illutration An area in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Jan. 22. The city has the highest number of fatalities related to the Noto Peninsula earthquake by municipality. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Bereaved family members of at least 93 people who died of causes believed to be linked to the Noto Peninsula earthquake have applied for “disaster-related death” certification, according to municipal officials in Ishikawa Prefecture.

The Ishikawa prefectural government and governments of cities and towns are expected to hold a meeting for the first time to review these cases as early as next week.

It is possible that the first certification could be issued by the end of the month.

Prefectural officials announced that there had been 15 people whose deaths were suspected to be related to the Noto Peninsula earthquake that occurred on Jan. 1 as of May 9.

But the number may rise significantly.

Disaster-related deaths refer to deaths not from direct causes such as house collapses and fires, but due to worsening health caused by disasters or illness brought on by the burden of living in evacuation shelters.

The Asahi Shimbun interviewed officials in 19 cities and towns in the prefecture about applications for disaster condolence money, which is provided to bereaved families of those who died in the earthquake.

There were 53 applications for disaster-related deaths in Wajima, 16 in Noto, 10 in Shika, seven in Nanao and seven in Anamizu.

The number of applications may increase in the future.

In Suzu, the hardest-hit area, officials said it had received about 70 applications for condolence money, including those for direct deaths. But the officials declined to disclose the number of applications for disaster-related deaths, calling it personal information.

The central government and others pay disaster condolence money of 5 million yen ($32,100) to a bereaved family if the deceased was the breadwinner. In other cases, the payment is 2.5 million yen.

A panel of doctors and lawyers among others reviews each application.

The prefectural government opened a secondary evacuation center at a large gymnasium in Kanazawa on Jan. 8 to prevent disaster-related deaths in the severe winter months. Officials have urged residents to evacuate to hotels and inns available in a wider area.

As of May 9, the prefectural government counted 245 deaths from the quake.

Of the 245, 15 were deemed disaster-related deaths by municipal governments themselves.

In the dual Kumamoto Earthquakes that occurred in April 2016, six disaster-related deaths were confirmed for the first time three months later.

In December the same year, the figure exceeded 100. The number stood at 221 as of September 2020.

The number of disaster-related deaths attributable to the Noto Peninsula earthquake could eventually exceed the Kumamoto figure.

(This article was written by Yoshinori Doi and Shintaro Shiiki.)

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