Over a hundred students from junior high schools in quake-hit Ishikawa Prefecture in central Japan left their families Sunday to evacuate to a facility some 100 kilometers away to continue their studies.
The temporary relocation of the around 140 students from Suzu city and Noto town came after a similar move by students from Wajima in the prefecture last week in the wake of the magnitude-7.6 quake that struck the Noto Peninsula in the prefecture on the Sea of Japan coast on New Year's Day.
Although all junior high schools in Suzu and Noto are set to be reopened by Monday along with elementary schools, the parents of some of the students requested the transfer to ensure they can study in an adequately equipped environment.
In Suzu, where nine public elementary and junior high schools have already reopened, 102 of 199 students from four junior high schools will relocate to the facility in Kanazawa. The city's two remaining schools are set to resume classes on Monday.
At a public library where some of the students gathered for departure, some appeared happy to see their friends again, while parents anxiously watched their children board a large bus.
As the bus departed, the parents waved farewell amid cries of "Good luck" and "Take care."
In Noto, 40 of 247 students attending four junior high schools departed their hometown for the Kanazawa facility at their parents' requests, although all of the town's nine public elementary and junior high are scheduled to reopen on Monday.
On Wednesday, some 250 of the roughly 400 students from all three Wajima city-run junior high schools evacuated to two facilities in Hakusan in the prefecture's south.
In Wajima, classes will resume on Monday at the earliest using vacant classrooms at local junior high schools, according to the prefecture's education board.
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