Education Officials Considering Evacuating Students in Quake-Hit City of Wajima

Officials in Wajima, a city in Japan's Noto Peninsula that was affected by an earthquake, are contemplating relocating roughly 400 students from the city's three public junior high schools to another area. The Wajima Municipal Board of Education is in the process of surveying parents to obtain their approval for the potential evacuation. The schools are presently being used for various purposes, including housing quake evacuees, and there are no definite plans for resuming classes. The condition at Wajima Junior High School is particularly dire, with approximately 600 quake evacuees taking shelter there, and significant issues with water and sewage systems, the schoolyard's sinking, and the route to the school being cut off, all of which pose safety concerns for the students. Tadashi Ogawa, the superintendent of the city's education board, expressed the desire to reopen the schools within a maximum of two months.