1 Year On: Double Disasters Leaving Some Children Traumatized in Noto

   Wajima, Ishikawa Pref., Dec. 31 (Jiji Press)--The massive earthquake that rocked the Noto Peninsula in central Japan on Jan. 1 and the record-breaking downpours that hit the same region in late September have left local children emotionally scarred, with some still in poor health due in part to the widening gap in living conditions caused by the double disasters.
   Experts warn of the possibility of children also experiencing the so-called anniversary effect, or disturbing feelings that can occur on or around the anniversary of a traumatic event, stressing the importance of their family's understanding of such circumstances.
   According to Ishikawa Prefecture, which covers most of the Noto Peninsula, about 1,000 school counselors from within and outside the prefecture had been dispatched to schools in the Noto region by July, providing children with mental care in cooperation with staff members of local juvenile classification centers.
   Junichi Sugiki, 38, an official of a juvenile classification center in Kanazawa, the capital of Ishikawa, who has been having counseling sessions with junior high school students in the cities of Wajima and Suzu in the prefecture, said, "The shock caused by the additional disaster of heavy rains was bigger (than the shock of earthquake)."
   In late August, the Ishikawa prefectural government announced that it would close all primary shelters set up at school gymnasiums and other places within the following month. The heavy rain disaster hit the Noto region in late September, when the second semester of local schools had begun and students were about to get back to their conventional daily lives. A junior high school student in Wajima was among the 16 fatal victims of the downpours.

(2024/12/31-10:30)

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