No.144 Support for the Noto Peninsula Earthquake

The new coronavirus pandemic, which lasted for a long time, has finally come to an end. This year is the Year of the Dragon, and in order to pray that social life and economic activity will be restored just as the dragon ascends to the sky, I went to the Saidan Festival and New Year's Festival at shrines all over the city from midnight in the new year. . After finally visiting Anazawa Tenjin Shrine and attending a local New Year's party, a major earthquake occurred in Ishikawa Prefecture.
　
The Inagi City Fire Department began collecting information immediately after the disaster occurred, and received the first report from the fire chief on the evening of New Year's Day. We confirmed the safety of our friend city, Nozawa Onsen Village, and also confirmed the situation with the National Young Mayors Association Secretariat, with which we have a disaster support agreement, and although they said that there was no activity at that time, we would be ready to respond immediately if requested. I ordered the preparations.
　
The next day, on the 2nd, we received a second report from the fire chief and prepared the materials and equipment for the emergency fire support team, ensuring that we were ready to dispatch quickly, but for some time after that we were still waiting for instructions.
　
During this time, I learned from media reports of the extensive damage caused by the earthquake, tsunami, and fire, and felt the need to provide assistance without waiting for requests. On the 4th, we began collecting donations at City Hall and 11 other public facilities in the city, and also delivered 1,600 bottles of plastic drinking water as emergency relief supplies to Hakui City on the Noto Peninsula.
　
On the 8th, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Bureau of Internal Affairs and Communications received an order to dispatch the emergency fire aid team, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications Fire and Disaster Management Agency specified that the activity area would be Wajima City and the camp location would be Yanagida Botanical Park in Noto Town. On the 9th, the Inagi City Fire Department dispatched a platoon as a member of the Tokyo Battalion of the Emergency Fire Assistance Team. Roads on the Noto Peninsula were in a state of destruction, and it took the first dispatch team 29 hours to get from the front of the Inagi Fire Station to the scene.
　
The first dispatch team loaded as many relief supplies as possible onto transport vehicles and delivered 10 portable toilets, 10 tents, and 1,200 replacement bags for toilets to Wajima City.
　
The mission of the dispatched team from the Inagi City Fire Department is to provide logistical support, including setting up 49 camp tents, making sandbags, setting up decontamination (area for washing dirty activity materials, etc.) for the activity team, and managing fuel for the activity team.・I was involved in drinking water management and decontamination after the mission team returned. However, at first there was a shortage of personnel, so I was also involved in search operations and safety confirmations at the fire scene in Wajima City's morning market.
　
Then, on the 12th, we sent out the second contingent, and while we basically rotated for three nights and four days, we most recently sent out the seventh contingent on the 27th.
　
In addition, in order to support Suzu City and Wajima City, which were among the worst affected areas, Suzu City began accepting donations on behalf of disaster relief through hometown tax donations from the 9th, and Wajima City from the 10th. In the disaster-stricken areas, city hall employees have also been affected, and it is difficult to allocate personnel to issues such as issuing donation receipts, so Inagi City Hall will prepare the documents necessary for donors to receive tax deductions for free.
　
Additionally, the Tokyo Nursing Association has requested Inagi City Hospital to dispatch disaster support nurses, and from the 24th to the 27th, they will provide care for evacuees who are elderly in need of care at the evacuation center, Ishikawa General Sports Center. The we.
　
In addition, we received a request from the Tokyo Metropolitan Mayor's Association to provide support for administrative staff, and we have been dispatching them since the 27th. This is to determine complete destruction in residential damage assessment work, and we have dispatched experienced personnel who performed similar work locally during the Kumamoto Earthquake.
　
I was surprised to learn that the destination this time was not Wajima City, but a conference room at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. I was impressed by the work content, which makes use of the disaster victim's life reconstruction support system to conduct remote judgments based on photos and summary data taken by local staff, and shows the evolution of IT.
　
The support status at the time of writing this article is as shown above.
　
Inagi City is a small municipality, and there are limits to the support we can provide, but by bringing together many municipalities from across the country, we can become a great force. Although Inagi City is small, it independently manages a municipal hospital and operates its own fire department, so we are proud to be able to contribute by dispatching not only general administrative staff but also specialized staff.
　
The city will continue to support the reconstruction of the Noto Peninsula earthquake-affected areas.
　
We would like to ask all citizens to cooperate with us to the extent that they are able.