WAJIMA, Ishikawa Prefecture — The ground was still shaking from aftershocks when Makoto Shinagawa heard the first report about conditions at Wajima Municipal Hospital. “We’ve got a huge number of patients coming in,” a staff member told him on the evening of Jan. 1. “The hospital is in a panic.” Since then, Shinagawa, the 65-year-old director of the hospital, has been desperately trying to treat a steady stream of disaster victims, from those with bone-crushing injuries to people suffering from contagious diseases. Although Wajima Municipal Hospital is designated as a disaster base hospital, its many struggles since the Jan. 1 quake underscore the difficulties of preparing for calamities in this earthquake-prone nation. TRIAGE AT HOSPITAL ENTRANCE Shinagawa was returning to…
