In the Noto Peninsula earthquake disaster area, a dashcam found in the rubble recorded the scene immediately after the earthquake. It showed houses collapsing one after another and elderly people evacuating from the tsunami. Footage of the tsunami is shown. Please be careful. ■ New footage from the rubble... the whole story of the collapse of the building A residential area in Suzu City, Ishikawa Prefecture, where rubble still remains. On the 1st of last month, when the earthquake occurred, the tsunami hit this place. A resident in the area said, "It's really terrible. I think the tsunami is probably bigger (than the damage from the earthquake) around here." This is footage from a dashcam installed in a day care center shuttle car on the day of the earthquake. The car was untouched in the rubble, so the footage was only found recently. In addition to the care staff, there were six elderly people in their 80s and 90s on board. About 30 seconds after the care staff got out of the car to call the family of the client, a strong tremor hit. The elderly people screamed and the atmosphere in the car became tense. Outside, electric wires are undulating wildly. About 20 seconds after the earthquake, the two-story building in the back of the screen collapses. The building right next to the car also collapses. A man who was pushing a bicycle behind the car was unable to stand due to the violent shaking. About 30 seconds after the earthquake, buildings on the right side of the screen collapsed one after another. The area was covered in white smoke and dust. The edges of the road were cracked, creating large fissures. Kumiko Inagawa (59), a care worker who was driving the car, said, "It was a really big earthquake, different from any we've had before. And it was long. Houses were collapsing. We're close to the sea, so we thought there might be a tsunami. It's never come before. I thought maybe it would come. First of all, I thought we had to get away from this place." Inagawa describes the situation at the time. She is a care worker who was driving the shuttle car. ■ People nearby carried the elderly on their backs... the reality of evacuation of the elderly After the shaking subsided, residents began to evacuate in a hurry with almost the clothes on their backs. Outside the car, sirens were ringing out to warn of a major tsunami. Inagawa: "Even if we tried to move the car forward, the house had collapsed and we couldn't move forward. There was also a step on the bridge behind us, so we couldn't move it. We had no choice but to have them walk." Inagawa decided to get the elderly out of the car and evacuate. He walked from a residential area near the sea to a senior citizens' facility on high ground. He got them out of the car one by one and asked passersby for help. For elderly people who had difficulty evacuating on foot, several people nearby carried them on their backs. Inagawa: "I thought I couldn't take them myself, so I asked if anyone could help me, and they carried me on their backs. I went up with the other two people, one arm on each side." About seven minutes after the earthquake, with the help of people around him, Inagawa evacuated all six elderly people from the car. The engine was turned off, so the recording stopped, but 30 minutes later, it automatically resumed recording, perhaps in response to the vibration. The video shows the car he was in being engulfed by the tsunami, and the muddy waters filling the surrounding area. The scene captured by the dashcam shows the building in such a state that it is unrecognizable. Inagawa narrowly saved the elderly from the tsunami. His home was damaged, and he is now staying at an evacuation center in Suzu City. Inagawa: "(Q: What if you had been left behind?) I don't think we would have survived. I just wanted to help everyone. I don't know if it was the right thing to do, but in the end, everyone was able to evacuate without getting hurt. I'm just glad, that's all." ■When the tsunami arrived Near home...there were issues with evacuation methods Evacuating from the approaching tsunami. The difficulties were also seen in other areas. The video was taken in Joetsu City, Niigata Prefecture. The tsunami was captured as it went up the river mouth, overtopped the levee, and flowed into the residential area. A woman in a house where the tsunami was right in front of her said: A resident who was affected by the tsunami said, "The tsunami reached about here. I opened the window and it was so intense. I was so surprised." Unable to go outside, she and her husband escaped by vertically evacuating to the second floor. A resident who was affected by the tsunami said, "I and my father are both elderly, and my husband is 92 years old. We pray every day that the earthquake and tsunami won't come." An elderly couple who also live near the river mouth say that the husband suffers from emphysema and cannot let go of the oxygen machine. They were unable to evacuate in time, and were still near their home when the tsunami arrived. A couple who live near the river mouth said, "We all train and do a lot of things all the time, but when it comes down to it, we can only do half of what we do. We barely survived. That's exactly right, we barely survived." Joetsu City assumes that if a tsunami occurs off the coast of Niigata, it will reach this area in about 14 minutes after the earthquake, and urges people to begin evacuation within a few minutes of feeling a strong tremor. However, when residents were surveyed about the evacuation, it was found that about 80% of them were not able to start evacuating within a few minutes. Problems were also revealed regarding the evacuation method. This is a video of Namekawa City, Toyama Prefecture, about an hour after the earthquake. As the tsunami warning was announced, huge traffic jams occurred. This is because residents living near the sea all drove to evacuation shelters on higher ground at the same time. Since the Great East Japan Earthquake, traffic jams caused by evacuation vehicles have become an issue, but experts point out that it is necessary to develop evacuation methods that suit the region. Director of the Disaster Prevention Systems Research Institute, Yamamura Takehiko, says, "There are some regions where there is no place to evacuate unless you evacuate to a distant evacuation shelter, and for households with disabled people, elderly people, children, and infants, the only way to evacuate is by car. It is necessary to create evacuation rules that suit the characteristics of each region." ■Mass evacuation of junior high school students Parents react to sudden lifting of evacuation order... In the disaster-stricken areas, the movement towards reconstruction is gradually progressing. Six elementary schools and one junior high school in Wajima City, which had been closed for a long time, resumed classes on the 6th. With this, all public elementary and junior high school students in Ishikawa Prefecture are now able to attend school. Students who attended said, "I want to eat my lunch quickly," and "My backpack feels rough." Meanwhile, it has been revealed that some junior high school students who were evacuated en masse from Wajima City have been removed from the evacuation facility. Parents are expressing opposition. Kawahara Nobuaki, chairman of Toyo Junior High School PTA, said, "I think we are in a situation that is only causing anxiety for children. We don't want to make the children go around in circles any more." (From "Hatori Shinichi Morning Show," broadcast on February 7, 2024) [TV Asahi News] https://news.tv-asahi.co.jp