Quake-hit residents eyeing reconstruction through power of radio

Japan Times

3 days ago

Residents of a district in the city of Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, one of the hardest-hit areas in the 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake, hope to boost reconstruction efforts through the power of radio.
Wajima experienced significant damage in the magnitude 7.6 quake on Jan. 1 last year and in a heavy rain disaster that hit the peninsula last September.
A group of people, mainly residents of Wajima's Machinomachi district, are preparing to open a full scale emergency broadcasting FM radio station in mid-June.
The Machinomachi group has been given equipment and know-how from a group in Onagawa, Miyagi Prefecture, that continued radio broadcasts for five years following the March 2011 temblor and tsunami that struck northeastern Japan including Onagawa.
In February this year, the Machino Radio disaster FM radio station conducted a trial broadcasting session for one day to test radio reception.
In mid-May, six members of the Machinomachi group visited Onagawa to try their hand at radio broadcasting, spending an hour in simulated broadcasts at the Onagawa group's Onagawa FM radio station on each of the three days of training.
"We're working on launching Machino Radio's 'Machi no Wa!' (program)," a member of the envisaged radio station said in a simulated broadcast session while struggling to operate radio equipment.
"There's someone who is listening in beyond the microphone," Toshiro Sato, 61, who was an emcee of Onagawa FM's radio programs, told the Machino Radio member. "It's important to keep in mind that you are creating (the program) together."
After finishing her simulated broadcast session, Mizuki Yamazaki, 34, said, "Although I was really nervous, I had fun broadcasting while we all helped one another."
Shin Nakayama, 29, who lost his 31-year-old sister, Miki, to the rain disaster, said, "I'll want to do my best for the radio, for my sister who can no longer do what she loved."
"Although we still have a long way to go, I hope to tell people throughout the country that we aren't giving up and are trying to build ourselves back up," Nakayama said.
Many residents of the Noto Peninsula's Okunoto area, including Wajima, have cable television due to poor radio signal reception caused by the area's complicated terrain.
Last year's quake and rain disasters damaged many cable television-related facilities and relay stations, hampering disaster-affected residents' efforts to gather information on where evacuation shelters, emergency food distribution spots and disaster supply distribution centers were located.
With the area's population largely made up of elderly people, information provided by local governments and others on social media often did not reach locals sufficiently.
Following last year's disasters, the Machinomachi group focused its attention on using emergency FM radio as a means of sending out information and revitalizing the local area.
"We hope to create an environment in which information is delivered to various people," said Yusuke Yamashita, 39, who heads the group.
Onagawa FM, which supports the Machinomachi group, started out as an emergency disaster FM radio broadcaster after the 2011 disaster. Based on its experience, the Onagawa group helped a radio station begin broadcasting just after the 2016 Kumamoto quakes.
"We're going to entrust Machino Radio with what we've done in Onagawa up until now," radio producer Tomohiro Oshima, 51, said.
"We hope that (Machino Radio members) will gather local information and find a way to convey that information in their own words so that they can broadcast programs that energize the Machinomachi residents," he continued.
As there are no public subsidies to open or operate FM radio stations, the Machinomachi group is asking the public for donations.