Overview
- The education ministry reported 93 public elementary and junior-high buildings nationwide still lack seismic reinforcement as of April 1, leaving a 99.9% retrofit rate and 28 municipalities with unfinished work.
- Prefectural counts show Ehime with 25 unretrofitted buildings, Hokkaido with 20 and Yamaguchi with 12, and the ministry urged swift upgrades to protect children.
- Authorities counted 52 injured across Hokkaido, Aomori and Iwate after the Dec. 8 quake that produced shaking up to shindo 6-strong.
- JR East’s Morioka branch found about 20 damage sites on the Hachinohe Line and has suspended all services on the route with no restoration timeline announced.
- A magnitude 5.9 aftershock late Dec. 10 registered up to shindo 4 with no tsunami risk, the JMA kept its aftershock advisory in place through Dec. 16, and Hachinohe ordered 48 households to evacuate near a damaged rooftop tower.