Staff members of Takeuchi Farm, who come from Okayama Prefecture to voluntarily help evacuees, cook food for the evacuees at an evacuation centre, in the aftermath of an earthquake, in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, January 5, 2024. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
WAJIMA, Japan (Reuters) - On a chilly Friday morning in the quake-hit Japanese town of Wajima, Aydin Muhammet and his employees served steaming bowls of soup and rice in front of a community centre for evacuees.
The Turkish national's 10-man volunteer team from the construction company he owns in central Japan has been at work since Thursday afternoon, offering victims their first hot meals since a magnitude 7.6 earthquake levelled much of their city on New Year's Day.
Rushing to disaster zones to lend a helping hand has become Muhammet's second calling since the massive temblor and tsunami on the other side of the Japanese archipelago killed roughly 20,000 people in March 2011.
Muhammet, who has been living in his wife's native land for the past 30 years, said he was restless to bring aid since seeing the news of the devastation on TV. He sprang into action as soon as he learned the roads to Wajima had opened up.
Furiously working the phones in search of stores to stock up on supplies, Muhammet and his team - seven other compatriots and two Vietnamese - left their home in Nagoya around 3 a.m. on Thursday, shoving aside worries about driving through snow country without proper tyres.
"I just had to do something," he said.
The five-truck team finally arrived 11 hours later for a 300-km (180 miles) trip that would normally take half that time, and immediately got to work handing out everything from water and diapers to ready-made meals.
"We should have been exhausted but once we got here, we were energised," he said.
'NO TIME TO REST'
Muhammet, 46, said his motivation comes from knowing the despair and loneliness people can feel when they see no help arriving.
"I've been to other disaster zones so I sense the happiness of the victims when we're here. And that makes me feel I want to keep doing this," he said, speaking in Japanese.
Wajima, a city of about 30,000 best known for its lacquerware craft, has seen some of the worst destruction, with scores of homes and businesses collapsed or burnt down.
"We are truly thankful," said 72-year-old Matsuo Yata, after delivering a tray of vegetable soup with rice to others in the hall - now hosting more than 700 fellow evacuees. "A hot meal is the best."
Muhammet said he was less prepared in the 2011 disaster but managed to reach some victims in a tsunami-hit town, and has also helped with relief efforts after a flooding not far from his home in Nagoya.
Muhammet said he had prepared for the worst as seismologists warn that a massive earthquake could hit the Tokai region where he lives some time in the next 30 years.
His company has dug a well that can supply 400 litres (105 gallons) of water a minute and secured a big power generator. Muhammet also buys a year's worth of rice grown by a farmer friend, keeping roughly 1 ton of it at his company as emergency supply.
Arriving at the scenes of desperation, Muhammet said it saddened him to see the absence of more citizen volunteers.
"There's only so much a team of 10 people can do over two days. There's got to be more people out there who can do something," he said.
"I know it's New Year's, but this is no time to be resting."
As the steady stream of hungry evacuees walked up to receive their morning meals, an elderly man approached Muhammet, grabbing him in a tight embrace in a show of appreciation.
(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Writing by Chang-Ran Kim; Editing by Stephen Coates)
