Tsunami survivor battles wildfire to protect home town in Japan’s north-east

OTSUCHI, Japan – Mr Ryota Haga was in high school when the biggest earthquake ever recorded in Japan triggered a deadly tsunami and swept away his family home in the quiet north-eastern town of Otsuchi in March 2011.

Now 31 with a wife and toddler, the volunteer firefighter faces another natural disaster: this time, a wildfire raging for a sixth day and threatening his community after burning through more than 1,600ha of forest as at the morning of April 27.

“It’s been 15 years since the (Great East Japan) Earthquake, and our lives are finally beginning to settle down,” Mr Haga said at the end of another draining day battling the blaze on April 26.

“We can’t let people lose what is precious to them all over again. The fire is spreading and our exhaustion is at a limit, but it’s our home town. We will protect it at all costs, even if it feels like we’re running on empty.”

Otsuchi was among the hardest-hit coastal towns in 2011, when a tsunami estimated to be around 10m high swept through the small fishing town. Nearly 1,300 residents, or about a 10th of its population, perished, including its mayor.

Mr Haga said the scale of the current fire is nothing that he has ever experienced.

Some 1,400 firefighters and dozens of Self-Defense Forces personnel have been deployed so far, with no prospects yet of bringing the blaze under control despite some scattered rain forecast on April 27.

While Japan has experienced relatively few large-scale wildfires compared with other parts of the world, climate change has increased their frequency, especially as the early spring months before the humid rainy season have been hot and dry, with winds that can whip up flames.

On April 26, another wildfire started in Fukushima, also in Japan’s north-eastern region.

For Mr Haga, the increasing instances of wildfires have added to a longer-term concern over the acute shortage of firefighters as the population declines and ages. Already, the fire brigade he belongs to is below the staffing level set by the authorities, he says.

“If a forest fire breaks out when I’m in my 50s or 60s, and I’m the one gasping for breath while trying to fight it, I don’t think we’ll be able to stop it,” he said.

Still, Mr Haga grasps on to the hope that the firefighters’ single-minded determination to save the community will not be wasted.

“The next generation might be inspired to join the volunteer fire brigade.” REUTERS