Japan is still reeling 100 days after the Noto earthquake

Fishing boots. Their son’s beloved fishing boots—that is what Hamazuka Hiroyuki and Chiaki most hope to find under the rubble of their garage. The Hamazukas’ place in Suzu, on the northern tip of Japan’s Noto peninsula, is one of nearly 100,000 buildings that were damaged or destroyed when a massive earthquake struck on January 1st. As of late March the death toll had reached 244 people. The Hamazukas and their children survived, but like most of their neighbours, nearly 100 days after the tremor, the family is only beginning to piece its life back together.

The peninsula will take years to recover, says Fujino Tatsuo, a disaster-relief volunteer. The lessons it offers are pertinent for the earthquake-prone area around the Pacific Ocean known as the “ring of fire”—as seen on April 3rd, when Taiwan was hit by an earthquake of magnitude 7.4, its strongest in over two decades.