Hundreds of people hopped onto Nov. 2-4 bus tours connecting the main train station in Sendai, capital of northeastern Japan's Miyagi Prefecture, and a volunteer center in Marumori, a prefectural town still cut off from the rail network due to damage inflicted by last month's Typhoon Hagibis.

Some three weeks have passed since the typhoon tore across Japan, but many buildings in the town remain covered in mud, while numerous households still have nowhere to dispose of everyday items rendered useless by floodwaters, hampering disaster cleanup. Moreover, major train line operations are still suspended, contributing to a lack of volunteers.

A total of 2,246 people had volunteered in Marumori up to Oct. 30. According to the town's Council of Social Welfare, 150-200 volunteers come to the city each weekday, but 1,167 households were flooded and manpower shortages remain an issue. One official stated, "Because of the scale of the damage, it took time to prepare to accept volunteers."

In Marumori's Kaneyama district, volunteers were cleaning up mud and providing other assistance at the home of Eiko and Tadaaki Moriyama, aged 77 and 79, respectively. Their home was flooded with a meter of water when the Kijio River, a local tributary of the Abukuma River, burst its banks.

Eiko said, "I can't walk very well, so I haven't been able to make much progress on cleanup work. It's very helpful to have them (volunteers) come."

The Abukuma Express line connecting Marumori and Fukushima stations has stopped running due to Typhoon Hagibis. Furthermore, it takes over 30 minutes to reach the volunteer center on foot from Marumori Station, which is being serviced by a temporary bus route.

Typhoon recovery volunteers arrive by bus in Marumori, Miyagi Prefecture, on Nov. 3, 2019. (Mainichi/Toshiki Miyama)

This is why the center organized bus tours over the Nov. 2-4 long weekend. Roughly 50 volunteers participated on the first day, and about 200 people joined on the second day. Miyagi Prefecture's social welfare council also provided a bus service connecting JR Sendai Station and the volunteer center on Nov. 2 and 3.

Yuka Miyamae, 26, a doctor from Tokyo's Ota Ward, told the Mainichi Shimbun, "It's difficult to get to Marumori on public transportation. Thanks to the bus tour, I was able to join in (volunteer activities)." Some participants even came from Osaka and other prefectures in western Japan's Kansai region.

Marumori's social welfare council Secretary-General Toshiyuki Yatsu, 62, says he noticed the tours had a real effect, as volunteer arrivals on Nov. 3 "increased by about 400 people compared to usual Sunday numbers."

However, cleanup work was only completed at 14 households on Nov. 2 when some 700 volunteers worked in the town. About 300 households still need a helping hand.

Yatsu emphasized the lack of lodgings as another factor burdening volunteers. Some helpers are spending nights in their cars, prompting the town to consider converting a local meeting hall into accommodation. It is expected that residents in Marumori's mountainous areas will also require assistance.

"There are still so many things we need help with," said the 62-year-old, calling for more volunteers.

People have worked a total of more than 80,000 volunteer shifts across Japan since Typhoon Hagibis lashed the archipelago. By prefecture, 22,573 volunteers have worked in Nagano in central Japan; 12,001 in Fukushima in northeastern Japan; 10,087 in Tochigi, north of Tokyo; 8,972 in Ibaraki in eastern Japan; 7,384 in Miyagi; 4,628 in Saitama, also north of Tokyo; 3,976 in Iwate in northeastern Japan; and 3,833 in Chiba, east of Tokyo.

By municipality, 14,943 volunteers came to the city of Nagano, while the Fukushima Prefecture city of Motomiya, the Tochigi Prefecture city of Sano and the Ibaraki Prefecture city of Mito each welcomed in the range of 3,100-3,300.

Roughly 2,300 people joined in volunteer activities on Nov. 2 in the city of Nagano. A Nagano Prefecture social welfare council official stated, "It will become difficult to do volunteer work in winter when it snows, so we would like as many people to come (soon)."

The Japan National Council of Social Welfare has announced the names of 12 local governments seeking help from larger numbers of volunteers: the cities of Miyako and Kamaishi, the town of Yamada and village of Fudai in Iwate Prefecture; the cities of Iwaki, Koriyama and Minamisoma and the town of Kawamata in Fukushima Prefecture; the town of Marumori in Miyagi Prefecture; the cities of Sano and Tochigi in Tochigi Prefecture; and the city of Nagano. Some of those on Japan's northeastern coast have only been able to accept volunteers coming in their own cars, as the local public transportation network remains disrupted by typhoon damage.

(Japanese original by Hana Fujita, Sendai Bureau; Haruna Okuyama, Tokyo City News Department; and Kristina Gan, Nagano Bureau)