Newborn Brings Hope to Couple from Noto Quake-Hit City

   Nonoichi, Ishikawa Pref., July 2 (Jiji Press)--A baby boy born to a couple as their second child in June has given them a new light of hope months after their house in a city in central Japan was heavily damaged by the 7.6-magnitude New Year's Day earthquake.
   While the husband, Yuta Tobe, 37, a Suzu municipal government employee, was busy dealing with the aftermath of the powerful quake, the 33-year-old wife, Tomoe, gave birth during evacuation at a place some 120 kilometers away from their home in the city of Suzu, located in the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture.
   The couple say, "As long as he grows up healthy, that would be enough."
   Tomoe and the couple's daughter, Fumi, 5, were in a shopping mall outside Suzu with Tomoe's parents, who were living with the couple, when the temblor occurred on the afternoon of Jan. 1. As a major tsunami warning was issued for Suzu, they evacuated to the house of Tomoe's younger brother in the Ishikawa city of Nonoichi, about three hours' drive away.
   When Tomoe's parents went back to Suzu the following day, they found their two-story wooden house near the coast heavily damaged by a tsunami from the Noto Peninsula earthquake. A large amount of seawater apparently smashed through the back door, leaving the inside of the house covered with mud, and the Buddhist altar in the living room was washed away to the entrance.

(2024/07/02-15:38)

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