Coastal town of Suzu tries to recover from destruction of January's earthquake and tsunami

Suzu (Japan), Jan 31 (EFE).- (Camera: Antonio Hermosín) In the small coastal town of Suzu, the earthquake and tsunami at the beginning of the month destroyed almost half of its homes and killed around 100 of its 12,500 inhabitants, as well as putting Japan's warning and evacuation system for natural disasters to the test.

A strange calm reigns in the streets of Suzu, where a month after the disaster, the scene is apocalyptic, with collapsed houses, vehicles turned to metal, boats stranded on cracked roads and bridges on the verge of collapse.

FOOTAGE OF THE SUZU REGION, WHICH WAS HIT BY THE EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI ON 1 JANUARY.

SOUNDBITES:

MICHIKO HOSHIBA, 82-YEAR-OLD SUZU RESIDENT:

"After the earthquake, (...) we went to a shelter and couldn't get out for 4 or 5 days. What I found when I was able to go out for the first time is this landscape.

"The earthquake has already destroyed many houses and many people were crushed to death. Two people from a family next door died like that at the time. It was right here, they were my neighbours.... But all of us, 3 members of the same family, luckily we were able to evacuate in time".

"There was a first tremor, then another one, and when it was over we thought it was going to be nothing.... So we went to the square next to our house. That's when the tsunami came".

"The tsunami reached 1.5 metres here, according to the marks it left on the houses".

TOSHIHIRO NAKAMURA, 71, ALSO A LOCAL RESIDENT:

"My house is that one back there. After the earthquake and tsunami, it was left in such a way that it was impossible to live there.

"Me and my family managed to escape to the evacuation centre in time. Just barely, but we managed to get to safety (before the tsunami hit)".