Nearly two months after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, many disaster-stricken areas have made little progress in repairing water, electricity and other vital lifelines, causing stress and physical hardship to survivors.

In Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, about 73,000 utility customers, including households, have no tap water, and electricity has not been restored to about 120,000 such customers. These figures include structures that were destroyed or washed away by the tsunami that followed the Great East Japan Earthquake. Disaster survivors still without water and power have pressed officials to repair the vital services as quickly as possible.

Before the disaster, some areas relied on wells for their water. The tsunami flooded some of these wells with seawater or blocked them with debris. Desalinization and debris removal are huge tasks, and in these areas, the completion of repairs cannot even be forecast.

“The hardest thing for me is that I can’t bathe every day,” said a 17-year-old girl, nearly in tears, who was living in a shelter in Minami-Sanrikucho, Miyagi Prefecture. “Honestly, I don’t even want to go out in public.”

Inside the shelter, the Self-Defense Forces has set up a bathing facility that men and women use in turns every other day. Most of Minami-Sanrikucho still has no access to tap water, and power has been restored only to about 40 percent of the town.

Kikuo Watanabe, 75, from the town’s Sodehama district, said his house has no tap water or electricity. He bathes at a shelter that is a 20-minute walk away and uses the toilet of a nearby house that has its own well and septic tank. He said he usually goes to bed before dark. “Maybe it’s because of the dark, but my family bickers more than before,” he said.

In Ishinomaki in the same prefecture, 12,000 utility customers, including households, were still without water, and power has not been restored to about 18,000. These figures also include structures destroyed by the tsunami.

About 100 residents have taken shelter in the municipal Osu Primary School. Tohoku Electric Power Co. dispatched a ground power unit to the school and water trucks deliver drinking water. About 400 nearby residents also come to the school for water.

In Rikuzen-Takata, Iwate Prefecture, about 90 percent of the city was still without water. A shelter in the municipal Hirota Primary School depended on water trucks and the amount of laundry shelter residents can do has been rationed.

One 73-year-old woman who lives in the shelter said she walked 15 minutes to a nearby river once a week to wash clothes. “Physically, it’s hard work, and it’s tired me out,” she said.

Hisao Ito, 63, a resident of the city’s Futsukaichi district, said he goes to bed at 7:30 p.m. because of the lack of power and water. “I wonder how long I’ll have to live like I’m on a deserted island.”

According to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, the number of households and other utility customers without water after the disaster peaked at about 1.8 million in 12 prefectures affected by the earthquake. The number is now about 70,000.

Tohoku Electric said the number of utility customers without electricity after the disaster peaked at about 2.74 million in the three prefectures. Excluding about 80,000 houses and other structures that were destroyed by the tsunami and about 30,000 houses and other structures that cannot be repaired because they are near the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, the number is now at 10,508.

The utility said it expects power to be restored to about 4,500 customers, including households, by around May 20, but was unclear when the rest would again have electricity.

Damage to water sources

Tap water supplies for Minami-Sanrikucho were cut off when the tsunami damaged four of the town’s waterworks.

The plants supply tap water pumped up from wells. However, well water at two of the plants is undrinkable as it now contains too much salt, according to local officials.

In Rikuzen-Takata, three tap water sources were submerged by the ocean. As of April 1, the salt density in the water at one of the largest wells in the city was three times more than the central government’s standard.

Although the saline density has decreased recently, salt contained in the soil may filter into subterranean water used for tap water.

The city’s water supply system is unlikely to recover completely until the end of July, local officials said.

Recovery of damaged water supply systems has been slow since mid-April because of the salt content and other factors.

According to the Japan Water Works Association, the salt contained in water sources cannot be removed easily in the wake of the March 11 tsunami.

In the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake and the 2004 Niigata Prefecture Chuetsu Earthquake, water supplies were disrupted mainly due to the rupture of water pipes.

Hampered by debris

Piles of debris have to be removed to allow waterworks engineers to reach and repair water pipes.

The Ishinomaki District Water Supply Authority said even after repairs are carried out on water pipes, they must be checked out thoroughly. All valves and faucets should be closed to check whether the pipes have been properly repaired; otherwise water would be wasted if it was allowed to run nonstop, it said.

Debris is also hampering the recovery of power supplies.

A total of 1,183 utility customers, including households, in Miyagi Prefecture have no prospect of being reconnected to power supplies until after May 20 if debris is not removed properly, according to the Tohoku Electric Power Co.

The power company said it would not supply power to about 14,000 utility customers, including households, in the prefecture even after the power supply system has been restored because residents are still in evacuation shelters.

Electricity will only be supplied to houses and other buildings when an occupant is present for fear that fires may start if power is supplied to malfunctioning electrical appliances.

“We leave messages at unoccupied houses telling residents of visits by our personnel. Many residents haven’t responded. We hope they contact us,” a company employee said.

The long-term disruption of water and power supplies could affect the health of local residents.

“Inhaling dust from mud-caked things in the wake of the tsunami could cause respiratory diseases. Food poisoning also is likely if they [local people] are unable to wash their hands thoroughly during the [coming] rainy season,” said Prof. Taeko Hori, a specialist in children’s nursing care at Kyoto Tachibana University.

Shigehisa Hanamura, Hiroki Kotaka, Kumiko Okamoto and Shinsuke Ishiguro, Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers

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