When a natural disaster or significant trauma occurs, the effect is often to freeze a moment in time and magnify it. For 66-year old Nanao resident Yoshiko Oyachi, when the Noto Peninsula earthquake struck on New Year¡¯s Day, she was sitting in her car beside her husband.

¡°I held hands with my husband until the shaking stopped,¡± she said. ¡°It was shaking so much, I didn¡¯t have a choice but to stay still.¡±

But Oyachi couldn¡¯t stay still for long. Living near the sea, she knew where to go when her phone began blasting earthquake warnings and speakers broadcast warnings of a tsunami.