As we approached the epicenter, we discovered isolated areas of damage – single-family homes reduced to rubble.
These are often old wooden houses that were not built to withstand such earthquakes.
We met Toshio Iwahama, 82, whose wooden house partially collapsed. He lives alone since his wife passed away and doesn’t know how he will pay to repair the house, which is now uninhabitable.
He told us that he always fears a big earthquake but hopes it won’t happen in his town.
Like everyone we spoke to, he said that although he had been through many earthquakes, he had never experienced one this strong.
We are trying to reach the worst affected town of Wajima, where more than a dozen people have died and we believe others are trapped in their homes. But all the roads leading in this direction seem to have broken down.
There are large cracks in the middle making them inaccessible.
This means that rescue teams also have difficulty accessing the area. Therefore, we are still trying to assess the extent of the damage as well as the number of people killed and trapped.