As Japan's Wajima city digs out from quake, hopes fade for tourism recovery

Rescue workers search for victims in a collapsed building, following an earthquake in Wajima, Ishikawa prefecture, Japan, January 3, 2024. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

WAJIMA, Japan (Reuters) - Hotel chef Makoto Wakabayashi was among those in Wajima hoping for a banner year as visitors returned to the scenic, seaside town that weathered more than two years of pandemic gloom.

Those dreams came apart in minutes of violent shaking on New Year's Day, when the strongest earthquake to strike Japan in 13 years and multiple aftershocks devastated the city and claimed dozens of lives.