Search efforts hampered by weather in Japan’s quake-hit areas | NHK WORLD-JAPAN News

Two weeks have passed since a massive earthquake struck central Japan on New Year’s Day, killing 222 people. Twenty-two people are still missing. Search operations are continuing but they are being hampered by bad weather.

At one point police had to call off the search due to snow. They now plan to use heavy equipment to search for the missing at landslide sites where they have found what appear to be human remains.

Ishikawa Prefecture says over 400 people in more than a dozen communities remain cut off due to blocked roads. Water and power are unavailable for hundreds of evacuation sites hosting more than 16,000 people. Fourteen evacuees are now believed to have died from sudden or chronic illness after staying at a temporary shelter.

Time seems to have stopped at one area in Wajima, a hard-hit city in Ishikawa Prefecture. Traffic lights crushed under a collapsed building remain just the same as the day the quake hit.

Even after two weeks, the full extent of the damage is not yet known. Survivors are facing the challenge of rebuilding their livelihoods.

An NHK crew met a woman taking shelter at an evacuation center in Suzu City. They asked her what the past two weeks have been like for her.

She said, “It brings tears to my eyes to see how huge the damage is. I recall, this stood here, that one there, we were living our life humbly, doing our best.”

Key industries in the affected areas have also been severely damaged. The governor of Ishikawa Prefecture said the fishery and agriculture industries suffered widespread damage across a vast area.

Ishikawa Governor Hase Hiroshi said more than 80 percent of the fishing ports were damaged because the quake pushed the ground up, breaking ice-making facilities. At least 170 boats were overturned or swept out to sea. There has also been damage to farmland and roads reported in southern parts of the prefecture.

The governor said, “We have confirmed farmers have not lost their willingness to resume farming. First of all, we would like to do what we can for farming in the spring and support recovery efforts.”

Officials say it will take time to fully grasp the extent of the devastation.