I had already planned to return to my hometown in Ishikawa Prefecture before the 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake struck. During that trip, I saw some of the damage firsthand. This account reflects conditions on January 8, 2024.
Traffic Was Building Up Toward the Disaster Area
Someone I know had a property in Anamizu, between Kanazawa and the Noto Peninsula, whose condition needed to be checked, so we headed there from Kanazawa. The Noto Satoyama Kaido was soon closed to ordinary vehicles in the direction of Nanao, forcing us onto local roads. The drive to Nanao was smooth, with no notable damage or congestion, although a convenience store where we stopped had no running water in its restroom.
Past Nanao, the road conditions deteriorated abruptly. The road was full of potholes and raised sections that felt like ramps. Many holes had been filled with gravel as an emergency measure, and traffic grew steadily heavier. Eventually we encountered a line of vehicles stopping even where there was no traffic signal. At that pace it would have been dark before we arrived, so we turned back early.
It made me understand why casually driving into a disaster area as a would-be volunteer can make matters worse: ordinary vehicles can add to congestion and obstruct the response.
Many of the vehicles on the road belonged to the Self-Defense Forces, police, DMAT, and other disaster-response organizations. Police vehicles were especially memorable. I saw units from Hyogo and Nagano as well as the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, and realized how police organizations send support from across Japan after a major disaster.
On the return from Nanao toward Kanazawa, the Noto Satoyama Kaido was open to ordinary vehicles, so I expected an easy drive. But abrupt raised sections remained. Although the road looked suitable for its 70 km/h speed limit, we often had to slow to around 30–40 km/h.
The Liquefaction Damage in Uchinada Left Me Speechless
We also passed through Uchinada, where liquefaction damage was reported to be severe. Since the Great East Japan Earthquake, many people have known that reclaimed land can liquefy during an earthquake, and I had seen footage of it before. Seeing it in person was different. Some buildings themselves appeared almost intact, yet the ground beneath them had sunk by several meters or tilted so badly that the structures looked effectively destroyed. I saw more than a hundred such buildings just while passing through.
After leaving Uchinada, everything suddenly looked almost normal again. It brought home just how much the underlying ground matters.
