Housing reconstruction efforts in quake-hit Ishikawa Prefecture, central Japan, are being hampered by a labor shortage at local builders.



A powerful earthquake struck the prefecture and surrounding areas on New Year's Day of 2024.



The Ishikawa prefectural government says as of February 25 this year, the quake had damaged more than 115,000 houses in the prefecture.



Residents are trying to put their lives back together by having new houses constructed or their damaged homes repaired.



But in the hard-hit Oku-Noto region in northern Ishikawa, some residents were told by builders that it would likely take almost another year for them to start work due to an acute shortage of workers.



Another factor obstructing reconstruction efforts is a lack of sufficient facilities in the Oku-Noto region to accommodate workers from distant urban areas such as Kanazawa City.



The Ishikawa prefectural government says the population of the four cities and towns in the Oku-Noto region has decreased by 8.4 percent over a one-year period since the disaster.



A lecturer at Kanazawa University, Toyoshima Yuki, has researched housing reconstruction in quake-hit areas.



He warns that more residents may give up on living in their hometowns and move elsewhere, if the labor shortage in the construction sector continues.



He suggests more accommodation should be provided for workers coming from distant regions.



The housing construction division of the Ishikawa prefectural government says it will try to boost reconstruction by providing financial assistance as well as information at consultation events or on its website.