- Title: Young volunteers help elderly resident to clean up Japan storm damage
- Date: 16th October 2019
- Summary: YANAGAWAMACHI, FUKUSHIMA, JAPAN (OCTOBER 16, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF YOUNG VOLUNTEER PUTTING PHOTOS ON NEWSPAPER TO DRY
- Embargoed: 30th October 2019 09:15
- Keywords: Japan storm typhoon Hagibis clean up Fukushima flood damage recovery
- Location: FUKUSHIMA, JAPAN
- City: FUKUSHIMA, JAPAN
- Country: Japan
- Topics: Disaster/Accidents,Wind/Hurricane/Typhoons/Tornadoes
- Reuters ID: LVA001B1CIJPJ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Wearing masks to guard against the dust blowing from drying mud, a group of young volunteers from the local high school in Fukushima helped 78-year-old Iseno Taniguchi tidy up on Wednesday (October 16), three days after the flood submerged much of her house.
When the powerful Typhoon Hagibis hit Japan and the Abukuma river overflowed on Sunday (October 13), water flooded 700 Yanagawamachi households, many of them homes to elderly residents too frail to clean and repair their water logged houses.
The 10 students, wearing tracksuits, carried out bags of wet rubbish to add to the piles of debris collecting along the towns narrow streets and carefully pulled photographs from sodden albums to dry in the sun.
Taniuchi, who lives alone and has been staying with her daughter since the flood, said she was grateful for the help.
"Their cheerful laughter made me laugh. I laughed today," she told Reuters from within her flood-damaged house.
The death toll from Typhoon Hagibis has risen to 74, and Fukushima prefecture has seen the highest number of casualties, according to public broadcaster NHK.
(Production: Kwiyeon Ha) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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