One Year After the Noto Peninsula Earthquake 2024

INDEX

• Rapid Support Immediately After the Disaster
• Noto Peninsula Earthquake was Caused by Fault Movement and Uplift of the Seafloor
• The Unexpected Heavy Rain Disaster
• I Want to Contribute to Ishikawa Prefecture's "Creative Reconstruction" Initiative.

Rapid Support Immediately After the Disaster

-- I was really surprised that the earthquake happened so early on New Year's Day. What were you doing that day?

HAYASHI: My parents' home is in Tonami city in the western part of Toyama Prefecture, and I was visiting them when the earthquake occurred. The shaking was unlike anything we'd ever experienced in the Hokuriku region, and fortunately my parents' house was fine, but when I turned on the TV, I saw images of the damage in Wajima and other areas, and I thought this was going to be a terrible disaster. As the General Manager of Hokuriku Branch Office, I am responsible for the three prefectures of Niigata, Toyama, and Ishikawa, so I confirmed the safety of employees and the status of our branch office and sales offices, and reported this to Headquarters. At the same time, I tried to understand the situation in the local prefectures and municipalities, connecting the local area with Headquarters.

-- Did you receive a request for assistance right away?

HAYASHI: As our company belongs to various associations and organizations, between January 4th and 6th, we received a steady stream of requests for support from various organizations, including a waste disposal association offering support to local governments, a geotechnical association requesting us to participate in a damage investigation team, and a request for cooperation in using drones to investigate the current status of infrastructure facilities.
Following the earthquake, the company set up disaster response organizations at Headquarters and local offices, and put in place a system for sharing information and supporting employees working in the affected areas.

-- Infrastructure-related work will also start moving at an early stage.

HAYASHI: Of course, immediately after a disaster, the first priority is rescue of lives and search for missing persons by police, firefighters, and the Self-Defense Forces, but it is also very important to grasp the damage situation of infrastructure facilities and take measures to restore them quickly based on that. In peacetime, if something happens, the local government, which manages the infrastructure, will confirm and respond, but in the event of a large-scale disaster, the local government will be overwhelmed with confirming the safety of residents, opening evacuation centers, grasping the situation of medical and welfare facilities, accepting relief supplies, and will not have enough manpower to grasp the number of affected areas. For this reason, associations and organizations that have concluded disaster support agreements will coordinate with member companies to prepare for support.
My work base is in Niigata, but I was mostly at the local disaster headquarters in Toyama during the initial response after the disaster. From February to March, I received instructions and support from Headquarters, and worked on both my regular duties and disaster-related responses in parallel, and made it through the busy period at the end of the fiscal year. This period may have been the hardest time.

-- Mr. MORINO, you also went to the site at an early stage.

MORINO: I was in Osaka on the day the earthquake occurred. We also observed shaking of intensity 3 to 4 in Osaka, and we felt that a fairly large earthquake had occurred because the shaking lasted for a long time. On January 16th, Headquarters received a request to participate in a local investigation team related to the national government, and I participated as a geological engineer. The purpose was to investigate the landslide area on National Route 249 in detail from an expert's perspective. I went to the site on January 18th, but the road conditions were very bad, with wavy roads in many places and electric poles leaning with electric wires hanging down, and it took more than 8 hours round trip from the meeting place in Kanazawa to the site. Many houses were still collapsed at the site, and I remember the feelings of anew that this was a serious disaster.

Noto Peninsula Earthquake was Caused by Fault Movement and Uplift of the Seafloor

-- What were some of the challenges you faced in responding to the disaster?

HAYASHI: I guess I would say grasping the information about the local situation, and organizing who in the company was consulted, when, and what kind of consultation was made, and how we responded. When there is a request for support or an inquiry, the company confirms and implements the response policy, and compiling that information was important and difficult. Also, when it comes to actually responding, many of our engineers will be on-site, so we have to prepare the environment for them, including their work space and accommodation. There were many tasks to be done, from finding an office location to signing rental contracts, and the day passed by in the blink of an eye.

-- In what areas did you provide support?

HAYASHI: The main things are roads, ports, and liquefaction. In particular, regarding roads, we received a request for support and were assigned to one section of the road to restore the coastal section of National Route 249 between Suzu and Wajima, about 53 km in length. The goal is to complete emergency restoration by the end of 2024, and this is the largest project. In February, a survey team of 32 people, including engineers in the fields of ground, structure, tunnels, ports, etc., was formed, and they conducted a survey for the restoration of National Route 249 over three days. We all reviewed the results, decided on the policy for emergency restoration and full restoration, and started work in March. In order to achieve the goal of restoration by the end of the year, we had to put together a restoration plan and start construction as soon as possible. There was also a race against time.

MORINO: Moreover, due to the characteristics of this earthquake, the recovery plan is not simple.

-- What are its characteristics?

MORINO: The epicenter was inland, but the fault shifted and the seabed moved significantly. This caused a tsunami, which does not usually occur with inland earthquakes. In addition to the collapse of buildings and mountainsides due to the strong shaking, all kinds of damage associated with active fault earthquakes occurred, such as the collapse of embankments, liquefaction and uplift of the ground, and even tsunamis. The uplift of the coast of Wajima reached 4 meters, and the bedrock and artificial structures that were underwater uplifted, widening the coastline, completely changing the scenery. Research on old strata had revealed that large-scale uplifts had occurred several times before, but this time, a phenomenon that probably occurs once every few thousand years occurred, and we were witnessing it with our own eyes. For this reason, it was essential to consider the ground when restoring roads, ports, and residential areas.

HAYASHI: For roads, it is not enough to simply remove the collapsed soil and sand with heavy machinery. There were some areas that had risen significantly, so we had to think about how to restore them quickly and how to respond to various influencing factors, including what about the ground and adjacent slopes, whether they would collapse again, and how to ensure safety while keeping in mind the restoration stage.

-- PACIFIC CONSULTANTS opened Noto Recornstruction Engineering Office in May, with MORINO assigning as its head, so that's the background to it.

MORINO: I was asked to be the Head of the Noto Recornstruction Engineering Office, which was to be established in Toyama City in April, and at first I was unsure whether I could do it. In this earthquake reconstruction project, teams from many fields were involved in the work of roads, tunnels, ports, erosion control, and even liquefaction countermeasures, so it was not easy to coordinate the whole project. However, I was told, "The key to this recovery and reconstruction is the ground. I knew from the beginning that MORINO was the only one who could do it." I decided to do my best and do my best as a geotechnical engineer. In fact, this time there was not a single simple construction project such as repairing a part of the damaged port or repairing cracks and sinkholes in the road.

The Unexpected Heavy Rain Disaster

-- It's been a year since Noto Peninsula Earthquake. How do you view the situation there?

MORINO: It seems like recovery and reconstruction are progressing, little by little. From July to September, six months after the earthquake, the Noto Abare Festival (Japan Heritage), which was in danger of being canceled, was held as usual. I think this was the result of the local enthusiasm to not give up because of the earthquake. However, the heavy rain disaster in September was difficult, as we did not expect it.
Record-breaking heavy rainfall of over 400 mm fell in just 24 hours from September 21st to 22nd, causing extensive damage. National Route 249, which had been undergoing rapid restoration, was hit again by soil erosion and landslides, rendering it impassable in five places. We heard many heartbreaking voices from local residents and construction workers who had been working hard towards recovery.

-- What were you doing on that day?

MORINO: The day before, there was news that a linear rain band was likely to occur, so I was waiting in Toyama. Then, at around 8:00 in the morning, an alert came from the landslide observation device on National Route 249, so I set off by car to go and see the site. However, along the way, there were landslides and driftwood caused by river flooding had blocked the road, and even places that were passable before were now closed. It wasn't easy to get to the site, and I began to wonder what had happened to all my efforts up until then.

HAYASHI: It was really tough at the time. But if we stopped moving forward, nothing would move forward. I decided that we just had to keep going, and renewed my resolve.

I Want to Contribute to Ishikawa Prefecture's "Creative Reconstruction" Initiative.

-- Even after the torrential rain disaster, the target deadline for recovery and reconstruction has not changed.

HAYASHI: The restoration goal for National Route 249 has not changed. National Route 249 is an important road that traces the coastline of the Noto Peninsula, connecting the six cities and towns in Oku-Noto and leading to Kanazawa City. In addition to serving as a community road in the region, it is also a tourist road where you can enjoy a pleasant drive while looking out at the sea, and I think the local people have high expectations for it. In this respect, not only we, but everyone involved, including the construction consultants and construction companies working on other sections, the national and local governments, are all moving forward together toward a single goal.

MORINO: It's rare to find a site like this. It's also a place that makes us reconsider the meaning of why we exist. Our immediate tasks include the restoration of Route 249, liquefaction countermeasures in Kahoku City and Uchinada Town, restoration of port facilities at Nanao Port, disaster assessments of prefectural roads, port facilities, and erosion control-related work, and disaster waste disposal-related work, but this earthquake became a complex disaster that was then joined by heavy rain disaster. That's why PACIFIC CONSULTANTS, which has a wide range of technical fields such as roads, tunnels, bridges, ports, ground, erosion control, waste, and urban and regional planning, believes it can continue to contribute in accordance with the various phases of recovery and reconstruction. In the affected areas, plans for recovery and reconstruction are being announced and considered, so we would like to be a force to help them achieve them.

HAYASHI: I think that in the future, initiatives will be made to develop a town that can withstand disasters, rebuild livelihoods, and create a lively atmosphere. We would like to contribute to the recovery and reconstruction initiatives based on the PACIFIC CONSULTANTS' past experience in disaster response.