Earthquake in Japan: a village spared thanks to its unique architecture

Among the hundred houses in Akasaki, built on a windswept stretch of the west coast, none collapsed after the 7,5 magnitude earthquake which left at least 161 dead and 560 injured in the area. region, and whose epicenter was very close.

This is due to their unusual design, emphasizes Masaki Sato, 43. The local house "is very compartmentalized, with numerous columns" which ensure its solidity, explains this defender of local heritage.

To resist rain, snow and sea wind, most buildings in Akasaki have few windows, and their exterior walls are made of wooden beams stacked horizontally.

Unlike many wooden houses in the Noto Peninsula and Japan in general, their ceilings are further supported by crisscrossed joists, which adds to the strength of the structure.

No casualties in the village

Mr. Sato lives in Tokyo but after the devastating earthquake of January 1, he rushed to travel the 300 km that separated him from Akasaki to get news of the residents, and of the house he is renting out. been as a guest room.

Despite the heavy human toll of the earthquake in the region, where 103 people are still missing, no casualties have been reported in the village, which breakwaters and concrete dikes also protected from the tsunami caused by the earthquake. .

After driving all night, Mr. Sato was relieved upon his arrival to see "the village still standing", "thanks to the design of the houses".

Inside his, he found broken dishes, overturned appliances and a broken sliding door, but the structure remained intact.

The same phenomenon occurred throughout the village, where "the design of the houses is more or less the same," said Seiya Shinagawa, a 78-year-old retired fisherman.

“Traditionally, they are made up of a shed facing the coast, which stops the wind, and a narrow house attached behind it”, a configuration dating from the time when fishermen went to sea directly from their shed.

“No one to pass it on to”

When a fire destroyed much of the village in the late 1930s, residents rebuilt the houses in a unified and particularly robust style.

But even this village that seems indestructible faces a problem endemic to Japan: the aging of the population.

Most Akasaki residents are over 65, and many live alone, like 74-year-old Akiyo Wakasa. “My neighbor and his neighbor also live alone,” she says.

And “repairing houses costs money.” “I don't know how many people here think it's worth fixing up the house and continuing to live there when they have no one to pass it on to,” says Ms. Wakasa.

An employee of an IT company, Masaki Sato is also involved in property renovation and has undertaken to buy a total of five houses in Akasaki with their sheds to help save them.

Because despite its unique architecture, the area is not recognized by the government as cultural heritage and when there is no longer anyone to live in a house, it is often demolished, he laments.

However, “the village is too precious to be lost”, underlines Masaki Sato.