Temporary
Housing
Recovery andReconstruction

Many elderly people who were already innursing homes continued to be evacuatedwith nursing staff, or the nursing home itself
moved into a remote location during
evacuation. On the other hand, elderly people
who received home care or went to a day careservice from home could not maintain thesame quality of care as before the evacuation.
Not only elderly people, but also their families,
had a difficult time.

Emergency
Response

Evacuation of children with disabilities
and their families
Living at home as an evacuee
Families with babies and children withdisabilities often had to return home where
they had no access to food and supplies. In
evacuation centers, they worried aboutbothering others. There were several casewhere several such families got together tolive in one house even though the electricity
had not been reconnected, not to mention thefact that external assistance was notavailable.
Expand the target of assistanceA large evacuation center generally produces
concerns about the hygiene situation andprivacy. Staying at home as evacuees in adisaster period can be an option, but
assistance is generally not available for them.

Is there anyone with disabilities?

It is necessary to include the official
assistance mechanisms for vulnerable people
who have to stay at home in local disasterprevention plans prepared by local
governments, which makes it possible toprovide assistance to their homes with thecooperation of volunteers and local
associations.

Evacuation

Paying attention to people requiring special assistance during a disaster

Utilize know-how from daily life

Preparedness

One group, which has run a nursery and anursing home, utilized its know-how andprovided day care services for elderly people
who stayed at an evacuation center. Womenat the evacuation center were released fromthe care of families for a short time. This gavethem time to go job-hunting or to clean their
damaged house.

□ Voluntary Organization

Temporary
Housing

Evacuation

Women were forced to have a busy life inevacuation centers, preparing everybody’s
meals in turn and lining up to receive supplies,
as well as keeping up the daily routine oftaking care of families. In an evacuation center
where a child support group helped, day careservices for children were available in order tomake free time for mothers. However, women
who took care of elderly family members alsoneeded “day care for elderly people.”

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Target Audience□ the Administration □ Community-based Organization□ Funding Organization □ Volunteer

Recovery andReconstruction

The elderly and baby day care
Reducing women’s burden of care20

□ Voluntary Organization

Preparedness

Emergency
Response

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Target Audience□ the Administration □ Community-based Organization□ Funding Organization □ Volunteer

21Temporary
Housing
Recovery andReconstruction

Diversity of disability and support forbabies and pregnant or parturient
women should be integrated into
disaster prevention measures.
Cooperation with such organizations as
disability organizations, welfareorganizations and child-caring supportNPOs, as well as attention to thesepeople in evacuation centers by
ensuring separate spaces for each sex
and a barrier-free environment, are alsoneeded.

Preparedness

In the disastrous 2004 flood in Niigata
prefecture, several elderly people, who
failed to escape, drowned. The
Japanese Government then worked out
a disaster policy on “people requiring
assistance during a disaster.” Local
governments and residents are
expected to work together on mappingout the residence of elderly people andpersons with disabilities, andformulating an evacuation support plan.
However, local residents associations
have a relatively ageing membership sothat even though the list of people
requiring assistance is completed, they
are often short of support personnel.
Many concerned parties are worried

Meeting needs of persons with disabilities

Emergency
Response

Therefore, it is important to promote
safety measures for the rooms insidesuch buildings as solid houses andpreventing sliding and falling furniture.
At the same time, it is also important toincrease people who are willing tocooperate by coordinating local
residents associations, disability
organizations, welfare organizations,businesses and universities, by planningdisaster prevention drills in which
various generations can join, and bycorrelating welfare education withdisaster prevention education atuniversities. These efforts will lead tomaking a society where people withhandicaps are always cared for andeveryone can live comfortably.

Collection of tips which can be useful in evacuation centers
There is a collection of tips in which the knackof how to meet the needs of persons withdisabilities in evacuation centers is dealt with.
This collection was made based on possible
difficulties for persons with disabilities,
especially women with disability, immediately
after a disaster. This shows that not only are
the rights of women with disabilities notprotected in daily life but also calls into
question the appropriate responses in
evacuation centers from the perspective of
their rights.
Disabilities include various conditions:
physical, visual, hearing, intellectual,
psychological, and internal impairment. It is
important to share widely at all times withlocals and society the fact that necessary careand support would differ depending on
gender and the degree of disability, in order toadapt the response in a disaster situation.
This collection of tips spread through emails
and blogs, and it was featured on TV
programs and in newspapers. It was widelyused in evacuation centers in affected areas.
The revised version gives tips for the
relationship between persons with disabilities
and those without disabilities, not only in
evacuation centers but also in daily life so thatit can be used in different phases after adisaster. This version is being offered on the
DPI Women’s Network Japan’s homepage
and blog.
Japanese version http://bit.ly/hn2T3K
English version http://bit.ly/puV2UB
Excerpts from the collection of tips, which canbe useful in evacuation centers, are: “Basic
response to persons with disabilities in
evacuation centers: If you encounter someone

who is … ” (Published by DPI Women’s
Network Japan)
Support desiredby all people with disabilities
Make facilities as barrier-free as possible anddisplay signs that are easy to see and read
1. Adjustments are needed to make facilities easy
to move around (e.g. remove steps, secure wide
hallways, and remove obstructions).
2. Hallways must be over 90-cm wide to allow
wheelchairs to pass (in a straight line).
3. Make signs for information desks, places where
supplies are distributed and toilets easy to see byusing big signboards, colored tape, etc.
4. Establish a secondary evacuation center toaccommodate people who find communal living
difficult.
5. As much as possible, see to it that someone
who understands the disabled person’s situation iswith him/her.
6. Seeing-eye dogs, hearing-ear dogs and service
dogs are essential for the movement and lives of
their masters, and must thus be evacuated with
their masters and live with them in evacuation
centers, being provided with food and water as
needed.
7. Use nametags to distinguish/identify people
with disabilities and the people helping them (e.g.
caregivers) to allow for effective assistance amidst
the chaos. Do not, however, make it compulsory inthe case of people who do not want to be
identifiable.
8. Among the facility’s communication devices,
provide televisions with closed captioning andtelephones with a facsimile function.
9. Provide handrails in the toilets.
10. Stock up on adult paper diapers andincontinence pads in different sizes.
11. Prepare packaged rice porridge as emergency
food, as well as thickeners and straws.
12. Provide simple medical equipment (including
ventilators and cylinders).
13. Ensure privacy for women in the evacuation
center, particularly the toilet and changing areas.
Measures are needed to ensure their safety.
14. Sexual violence may take place in evacuation
centers, and women with disabilities in particularfind escaping from such violence difficult. Takemeasures to prevent sexual violence, and in thecase of such incidents occurring, provide a
consultation/support system for victims.

Evacuation

about this fact.

□ Voluntary Organization

Temporary
Housing

Evacuation

In disaster prevention policies in Japan,“people requiring assistance during adisaster” indicates babies, elderly
people, persons with disabilities,
wounded persons, pregnant andp a r tur ie nt women, and foreign e rs
(residents and travellers). The situationand needs of people categorized as“requiring assistance during a disaster”
as a whole, however, are quite diverse.
Infants’ needs differ depending on theirage in months and years and for
pregnant women depending on whether
they are in their first, second or third
trimester, or immediately before
delivery.

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Target Audience□ the Administration □ Community-based Organization□ Funding Organization □ Volunteer

Recovery andReconstruction

People requiring special assistance during a disaster

Preparedness

Emergency
Response
22

Column23

□ Voluntary Organization

Evacuation

How to grasp various needs

Aid efficiency or diversity considerations?

Listening to those other than leaders, too

Aid fund for certain targets

Until external assistance is welcomed

One funding organization emphasizes
targeting women, elderly people and persons
with disabilities. Assistance for those who areoften called “vulnerable groups” is not easy togain understanding due to its inefficiency
because the targeted groups are small.

Temporary
Housing

External organizations from outside anddispatched public officers from other local
governments cannot start activities
immediately at evacuation centers and within
temporary housing communities. Assistanceis sometimes rejected even after registeringwith local government at affected areas. It is
decided by the affected people themselves
whether they need assistance or not. If there
is no need, it is proper that assistance berejected. However, how do they know there isa need? Who judges the need?

one person who voluntarily manages support
activities. In order to ascertain the needs ofvarious people, particularly those who havedifficulty in raising their voices, it should notdepend on a single leader’s decision as towhich assistance is needed. It is necessary tocreate a system that can match up various
needs from affected people, collected anddisclosed by local governments, with available
assistance.

However, this organization does not only
consider cost-effectiveness, but also tries tooffer funding to care for pregnant andparturient women, and psychological andsocial care for women in spite of the small
number of beneficiaries.

Emergency
Response

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Target Audience□ the Administration □ Community-based Organization□ Funding Organization □ Volunteer

Evacuation□ Voluntary Organization

Temporary
Housing

Emergency
Response

16

Target Audience□ the Administration □ Community-based Organization□ Funding Organization □ Volunteer

Preparedness

A district nurse dispatched for healthconsultations from another local government
outside of the affected area could not conduct
her work because a leader at an evacuation
center thought a health consultation was
unnecessary. She wondered if the decisionreflected all evacuees’ conditions.

Preparedness

Recovery andReconstruction

A member from a legal assistance group went
to evacuation centers and explained how to
conduct legal consultations with a brochure,which plainly explained the content of suchconsultations and what kind of problems
could be discussed. It also included a video
clip, which showed how to conduct a legal
consulta tio n. However, a leader o f t h eevacuation center thought it unnecessary andrejected their activities.

Recovery andReconstruction

A Leader’s decision?

Matching up various types of support andputting them together
Whether outside supporters can undertake
activities at evacuation centers seemed todepend on a small number of people, or even24

25

Assistance gap

Evacuation

Many disaster relief goods are distributed tothe evacuees staying at evacuation centersimmediately after a disaster, and later to theresidents in temporary housing. The disaster
response workers tend to pay attention only
to evacuation centers and temporary housing
communities because it is easy to gather
information on these places.

Temporary
Housing

However, there are those who keep pets orhave family members with disabilities thatcannot find their places in evacuation centers
and temporary housing and continue to live athome, which is sometimes partly-damaged
and without water and electricity supplies.

Recovery andReconstruction

People say that it is not difficult to imagine thehardships of these “evacuees staying athome,” but difficult to grasp where, and how
many of, those people live so that we cannot
provide assistance to them. As a result, notonly supplies but also information does notreach some of evacuees who stay at home. A
vicious circle continues and assistance does
not reach them.

Preparedness

Establishing a distribution route
A female leader of a local women’s society(fujinkai) at one fishing village in Iwate
prefecture approached leaders of the local
residents’ association (jichikai) and created a
distribution route which, in addition to people
who lost homes and live at evacuation
centers, included evacuees staying at home.

surrounding area. A leader of a local women’s
disaster prevention association, who was also
the local welfare commissioner (minsei jidouiin), approached the chief of the local
residents’ association, and put supplies into
small bags and distributed them tohouseholds, which had elderly people only or
persons with disabilities. These efforts
continued, making a local community center a
supply station by cleaning the mud out of itand providing supplies evenly to people in thecommunity.

Revising disaster preparedness plan
It is important that local residents’associations and voluntary disaster prevention
associations include the way of providing
necessities for “people requiring assistance ina disaster”, who often end up staying athome, into their disaster preparedness activity
plans. These necessities are water, food,diapers, milk, etc.

Emergency
Response
Evacuation

Paying close attention to places other than evacuation centers

There is an organization, which considered
the whole local district as one community, notdividing it into a segment, such as evacuation
centers and temporary housing, andundertook their activities towards“reconstruction of the community.” Startingwith temporary housing communities, it waspossible to connect with evacuees staying at
home or those who did not receive muchassistance. In order for people living in
temporary housing to be welcomed as local
residents in the neighbourhood, it is extremely
important that disaster response workers andvolunteers look widely over the wholecommunity, and not only pay attention totemporary housing communities.

Temporary
Housing

Assistance for those who have to stay at home

Looking over the whole community

Recovery andReconstruction□ Voluntary Organization

Preparedness

Emergency
Response

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Target Audience□ the Administration □ Community-based Organization□ Funding Organization □ Volunteer

In Miyagi prefecture, immediately after thedisaster, supplies were provided to a hotel,
which was used as an evacuation center, but
not to evacuees staying at home in the2627

Evacuation

Babies and their families in temporary
evacuation accommodationlack of milk for infants and possible
malnutrition.

In the affected area of a large-scale disaster,
the health risks, especially risks to the lives ofbabies and pregnant or parturient women
increase.

(*) In Japan, women usually stay in hospital forabout one week after normal deliveries.

Temporary
Housing
Recovery andReconstruction

One civil society organization, which has
worked on disseminating to children the
cardio-pulmonary resuscitation technique andaccident prevention, and support for healthand safety in disasters, worked on a“temporary evacuation project for infants”,
which helps infants and families in affectedareas to evacuate temporarily into places
outside the area, in collaboration with medical
experts.

Preparedness

Unsanitary conditions often emerge as aresult of evacuees wearing the clothes thatwere soiled in tsunami. Health can deteriorate
because of severe cold weather without
sufficient nutrition; lack of bathing
opportunities for infants who have a fast
metabolism, for more than a week. Infants
and mothers had to leave hospitals within 3days after delivery (*) because of the shortageof beds in a hospital, which barely worked
and had to go directly to evacuation centers.
Mothers could not breastfeed resulting in a

According to research undertaken in the past,infant mortality rate increases unless propercare is provided to affected mothers andchildren. Since evacuation life of the affected
a re a is e x pe c t e d t o be prolon ge d, t h i sorganization took in around 150 families incooperation with one of the local governmentsin the neighbouring Niigata prefecture.
At the hotel where evacuees stayed, theorganization supported them, mentally andphysically, by setting up a children’s clinic
where a paediatrician was permanently
stationed and a playroom where parents andchildren were able to communicate withothers from different prefectures and areas.
Midwives’ consultation visits to evacuation
centers
In the affected areas, there were someexamples that, with the cooperation of awomen’s center and a midwife network,
affected mothers and children wereaccommodated in the inland areas whichwere not affected by tsunami, necessities for
pregnant and parturient women, and mothers
and children were provided, and healthconsultations by midwives were provided
rotationally at evacuation centers.

It is better for NPOs, volunteer organizations
and public women’s centers to discuss andprepare systems to work on caring infant andpregnant and parturient mothers, presuming
contents of assistance and its concretemeasures, under possible disaster situations,in advance.
It is important for local governments toinclude assistance for infants, and pregnant
and parturient mothers in disaster
preparedness measures, to review stockpiles
and the way to manage welfare evacuation
centers (where elderly people, persons withdisabilities and pregnant and parturient
women can stay), and to promote acoordination system not only with medical
institutions but also with groups of hotels andinns.

Emergency
Response
Evacuation

How to respond to the severe condition in affected areas

The most important thing is to protect lives
an d t h e h eal t h o f i n f an t s an d ch i l d r en .
Understanding to send children off to safe
evacuation places even for a week is required
for families and communities above all.

Temporary
Housing

Assistance for babies, and expectant
or nursing mothers

Recovery andReconstruction□ Voluntary Organizationof the importance of evacuation into areas
outside of the affected areas. Some of themwere told, “Families should live together insuch a situation.” Some were afraid of theneighbours saying, “They ran away.”

Preparedness

Emergency
Response

19

Target Audience□ the Administration □ Community-based Organization□ Funding Organization □ Volunteer

One of the difficulties of these activities is that
there were mothers and children who
hesitated to evacuate despite the recognition
28

29

Providing places for women who cannot
go home immediately after the disasterProtecting women’s healthPlaces where women can feel safe to evacuate

Evacuation

Is distributing sanitary goods enough?

Temporary
Housing

Sanitary goods are now considered asnecessities among relief goods for women.
However, is this all that is required to protect
women’s health in evacuation? Sanitary
goods are not needed by all generations of
women and they are not used every day.
There should be other necessities for women.
Various demands of necessities

Recovery andReconstruction

Some women get vaginal infections andinflammation of the bladder during evacuation
life because it is difficult to take a bath.
Portable bidets and panty-liners are useful tokeep the body clean. For some women, it is
not sanitary goods but bladder control pads
that are necessary. Basic skin care products,
such as toner, moisturizing cream and sun
protection are also necessary for women.
These are not luxury goods, they are toprotect the skin from becoming dry and to
avoid irritation and maintain their health.

Preparedness

Protecting women from violence
In addition to keeping the body clean andhealthy, it is also important to protect womenfrom violence. Whistles are useful for alerting
rescue teams when being trapped under thedebris caused by aftershocks or when facing
a possible assault. Rape crisis information
should be also available in case an assault
happens.

more effective if persons like health workers
and midwives, who can give advice tomaintain good health, distribute them.

One private women’s organization sent its
contact information and address throughTwitter and took in several women who were
stranded by paralyzed transportation andcould not return home. The organization,
though small, could provide the necessary
help for women by circulating information on“a place for women where they can feel safe
to stay” in a city filled with stranded people.
There was another example where a women’sorganization’s office was used for its workers
and their friends and acquaintances as atemporary evacuation place. There were somepublic women’s centers and related facilities
that provided accommodation for thesestranded people; however, some of them only
provided the same place for both men andwomen, and some of the women felt unsafe.

Emergency
Response

Providing relief supplies and information
which are appropriate to each person’s age

Evacuation□ Voluntary Organization

Temporary
Housing

21

Target Audience□ the Administration □ Community-based Organization□ Funding Organization □ Volunteer

Recovery andReconstruction□ Voluntary Organization

Preparedness

Emergency
Response

20

Target Audience□ the Administration □ Community-based Organization□ Funding Organization □ Volunteer

These supplies and information should not beprovided in isolation but should be available ina pouch with other goods so that women
would not hesitate to receive them. It is also3031Creating communication opportunities
for menUseful also as female employment

Ideas for resuming daily lives

It is encouraging if neighbours can live
together in the same temporary housing
community. However, in many cases, theycannot live together, but instead ended up
living apart. Strangers tended to live together
as neighbours as a result of lottery and priorityof accommodation. It took a lot of time until
the evacuees got used to living in temporary
housing because everyone had to live in aplace that was strange to them and did noteven know who or what to ask.

It is desirable to have equal numbers of men
and women in the supporting staff because
women sometimes hesitate to consult men.
One local government not only included
women in their supporting staff but also
placed a woman in a management position ofa support center for affected people in thecommunity, and then affected people began
to come to the center to consult them bythemselves, rather than just waiting for
supporting staff to visit. Support centers are
more than a window for government. They
function as a meeting place where victims candrop by, without reserve, and avoid keeping
to themselves at home. In a place where
everyone can gather without hesitation, both
men and women support staff should beavailable.

Recovery andReconstruction
Preparedness

There is a system to provide necessary
information to residents in temporary housingby visiting each house. The names and roles
are slightly different in each local government,
as they are often called ‘consulting staff’,‘visiting supporting staff’, ‘bonding supporting
staff’, etc.. They link affected people and local
governments, consult about health, mental
and living concerns or household equipment,
and help in organizing gatherings at
communities and managing meetings. It is
desirable to set up mechanisms, likeneighbourhood associations, in a communityof temporary housing as soon as possible.
However, people are not willing to take part inthese activities because they are busy withreconstructing their lives and concerns of theirown and families such as health problems andjob-hunting. The activities of these supporting
staff are important until local mechanisms canbe established.

Women’s gatherings are cheerful
Many voluntary assistance organizations
provide places to produce handmade items,
such as knitting workshops, targeting women
who live in temporary housing communities.
Selling these types of goods can also be asource of income.

Temporary
Housing

Temporary
Housing

Including women and men in both visiting
and welcoming teams

Women in Sanriku coast have lived with thesea, have never stopped working and havebeen used to spending busy days. However,their lifestyle changed when the disaster hit.
They lost their jobs and did not have a chance
to use their hands at all in their daily lives. In
order that they could resume their daily
activities “using their hands,” these handicraft
activities, like knitting, started. Many of them
are elderly women that get together for workand to chat.

Recovery andReconstruction

Evacuation

Anxiety of living in temporary housing
community

chess) playing, “a cooking class for men,” andeasy gatherings where men can gather freely.
Creating a meeting place for men to refreshthem means a great deal, not only to the menthemselves but also to their families.

Feelings of men in their prime of life
On the other hand, it is men aged around 50
years that need to be cared for after moving
into temporary housing. Some of these men
wondered how they would spend their time
having been used to working hard every day
and felt they had nowhere to go until they
returned to work. Pachinko (a popular
Japanese gambling game) parlours became
popular in the affected areas which may
demonstrate that there were no choices
available for them.

Photo above: visit of supporting staff; Photo below: trainingof supporting staff (Photo credit: Higashi-Matsushima City)

Events and workshops that men would like toattend are often in high demand. It isnecessary to hold them at night to make iteasier for men to gather. There are alreadysome attempts such as shogi (a Japanese

Emergency
Response□ Voluntary Organization

Female staff members supporting
temporary housing community

Supporters’ System

32

23

Target Audience□ the Administration □ Community-based Organization□ Funding Organization □ Volunteer

Evacuation□ Voluntary Organization

Preparedness

Emergency
Response

22

Target Audience□ the Administration □ Community-based Organization□ Funding Organization □ Volunteer

Photo above: Handmade workshop which men also attend;
Photo middle: Knitting workshop; Photo below: Making sewing
kit sets, which were in high demanded by women (Photo
Credit: RQ Citizens Disaster Relief Network Japan (RQ-CNJ))
33

Evacuation
Temporary
Housing
Recovery andReconstruction
Preparedness34

One voluntary organization thought that it wasindispensable to provide assistance focusing
on women in the long-term reconstruction
process and decided to establish “a women’s
support center.” Pushing the concept of“assisting women” to the forefront, there weresome worries whether it would not go downwell with the traditional way of the community
and would not be welcomed by local
residents. However, the center was
established without any problems, and now it
provides training of handmade work based on
temporary housing communities and sells
products that women made.
This organization provides various types of
support within the temporary housing
community. It tries to work together with theleaders of the residents’ association by
consulting them and communicating withthem about their on-going activities.

Stretching arms at knitting workshop(Photo Credit: RQ Citizens Disaster Relief Network Japan(RQ-CNJ))

Emergency
Response

Give children a choice of their own
There were many donated school bags andJapanese calligraphy kit bags for children wholost school supplies in the disaster. Did
children receive them without any hesitation?
School bags are now available not only in
traditional red and black but also in uniquecolors, such as green and yellow. Children are
freer from stereotypical gender colors than
before. However, many of the donated schoolbags were reported to be red or black.
When tasked to purchase Japanesecalligraphy kit bags for children, one
organization made a list of colors including
brown besides red and black, so that children
could choose the colors by themselves as
they did before. This is an example of anarrangement that came about, where children
did not have stereotypical gender colors
imposed on them.
In order to restore dignity
Stationery goods and school supplies areusually colored in a combination of pink andblue, or red and black, which are linked togender. However, increasing options of color
guarantees that children can be themselves,by enjoying making a choice of their own. It isnecessary, not only for children, but also for
adult survivors, to make arrangements toincrease choices available when sending relief
supplies.

Evacuation

Calling for understanding from the community

Increasing options□ Voluntary Organization

Temporary
Housing

Establishing center for supporting
affected women25

Target Audience□ the Administration □ Community-based Organization□ Funding Organization □ Volunteer

Recovery andReconstruction□ Voluntary Organization

Preparedness

Emergency
Response

24

Target Audience□ the Administration □ Community-based Organization□ Funding Organization □ Volunteer

35

Evacuation
Temporary
Housing

There were various attempts made to create
their own job, rather than to wait for industrial
recovery in the affected area. However, it
might be difficult for people who have notstarted their own business before the disaster.
A business initiative providing shopping
services for the elderly, took advantage of thegovernmental budget for emergency
job-creation projects. It has since gained
attention as a way to support women-led
businesses.

Recovery andReconstruction

The service provided in Iwate prefecture isgoing shopping for daily goods, food andconvenience goods and delivering them topeople who live in temporary housing at therate of 100 yen (about US$ 1.1in Jan. 2013)
per shopping trip. Many orders come fromelderly people who live in temporary housing
where they do not have stores, and thisservice also plays a role in safety
confirmation.

Preparedness

There is a demand for the shopping delivery
service because shops do not always exist in
the immediate area, but as reconstruction
progresses, shops are rebuilt and otherservices are recovered, and the needs ofpeople who live in temporary housing maychange. Women who are involved in the
shopping delivery services think of this work
as an opportunity to gain experiences and as
a process for getting ideas for their futurebusiness.

business next time and to hire others.

Shopping Delivery Service in Otsuchi town, Iwate prefecture.
“Mederu Cars”

Emergency
Response

Consideration to foreign residents
Disaster drills with “every” resident
A foreign woman who has lived in Japan forover 30 years is a leader of a women’s groupin a local voluntary disaster prevention
organization. In disaster drills in this town,
foreign women have also attended. However,regrettably, one of the foreign women whocame to town recently died in the tsunami.
She had never participated in the drills
because she went to work in another town
and did not know the neighbours so well. On
the day of the disaster, she was in the town.
The leader feels sorry for her wondering if she
could not find an evacuation site and did notunderstand the radio.
In the evacuation center, foreign residents aswell as foreign assistance organizations came.
The female leader did a lot of coordination
between affected people and supporters. She
translated at evacuation centers, andaccompanied foreign circulating medical
teams.
The names of foreign residents were notregistered with their Japanese family on theaffected people’s list, but were separated
because they are managed under a foreign
registration list, not by the Basic Resident
Registration in which Japanese people areregistered with local governments. These arerequests from foreign residents, “I would liketo be treated as a resident; the same as family
members and neighbours.” “I want people
who cannot speak Japanese to be able toparticipate in evacuation drills together.”

Evacuation

Shopping Delivery Services□ Voluntary Organization

Temporary
Housing

Supporting affected women inlaunching a business

27

Target Audience□ the Administration □ Community-based Organization□ Funding Organization □ Volunteer

Recovery andReconstruction□ Voluntary Organization

Preparedness

Emergency
Response

26

Target Audience□ the Administration □ Community-based Organization□ Funding Organization □ Volunteer

The budget, like the job-creation project is, inmany cases, used to compensate for a salary.
However, it is more desirable for it to be used
as “job-creation” by people who areemployed by this project, to start their own
3637

Evacuation
Temporary
Housing

The existence of people who experience moredifficulty in evacuation life, such as persons
with disabilities and their families, householdswith only elderly people, and single parent
households is relatively obvious in the periodof emergency relief or at evacuation centers.
However, the situation of these people is lessobvious after moving into temporary housing
at the end of the emergency period.

people were forced to move into the available
temporary housing. However, there wereconcerns that it might be difficult to follow up
on them. In order to avoid losing contact, theorganization helped them move from theevacuation center to temporary housing. It
created a good connection to continue theirrelations even after the evacuees started a
new life in temporary housing.

Evacuees staying at home

It is effective to build a system in theemergency relief period that allows response
workers and volunteers to continue theirrelationships with those who need assistancein the reconstruction and post-reconstruction
period.

Recovery andReconstruction

One voluntary organization distributed
supplies to 200 to 300 evacuee households
who stayed at home, but the activity finishedthree months after the disaster. However,there were many elderly women and single
mothers who continued living inpartially-damaged houses, often isolated, andwho could not access the information that
was available in temporary housing
communities. Because of this fact, theorganization restarted the activity, this timetargeted to single elderly women and single
parent households only, and continued to visit
them periodically.

Preparedness

People who stayed at evacuation centers
during the entire period
The above organization also paid attention toevacuees who stayed at an evacuation center
during the entire period. These people were
expected to have more difficulty in thereconstruction process; elderly people, those
who did not want to move into temporary
housing because they were not sure whether
they could survive there, and elderly people
with aching knees that might prevent themfrom being on their own.

ifficulties of economic recovery
and the decrease in employment arelinked together when the wholecommunity is destroyed by a calamity.
Evacuees tend to feel more isolated andlost, away from their home towns, evenfor a short period, and can be cut off
from their relations in the community.

T

he people who often suffer themost from difficulties in thereconstruction period are “minorities” –that is, foreign residents, persons withdisabilities, children, sexual minorities
and those who have various needs.
They are often politically andeconomically mistreated andmarginalized, ending up being“invisible.” Due to their low
representation in politics, employment
and the wage gap, women may also be
categorized as a minority group.
Minorities have been created out of thesystems and standards that are
produced only by majority of people.

A

reas that are vulnerable todisaster are often the areas thatoriginally have a high risk with a highdensity of wooden houses, narrowroads, a shortage of green areas, andthe possibility of flood by tsunami. It
takes much effort and time to make aconsensus among residents, of the land
usage after a disaster, so it is notalways easy to agree on a plan forreconstruction even concerning
relatively simple aspects ofinfrastructure.

The voices of minority people areo f t en mo r e d i f f i cult t o he a r in t heemergency relief period or in thecomplex process of reconstruction. It isnecessary to pay attention and topromote participation of these minority
people in the reconstruction process inorder to reconstruct the areas better
where all people can live in safety andcomfort.

Emergency
ResponseD

Evacuation

Necessity of long-term assistance

Reconstruction paying attention to “minorities”

Temporary
Housing

Tracing the vulnerable evacuees

ColumnRecovery andReconstruction□ Voluntary Organization

Preparedness

Emergency
Response

28

Target Audience□ the Administration □ Community-based Organization□ Funding Organization □ Volunteer

Once the evacuation center is closed, these38

39Temporary
Housing

Involving children in planning the local
reconstruction

Ideas for residents’ participation

Children’s Community Building Clubs

Meetings take place between local residents
and disaster response organizations fromoutside of the community in order to assess
the needs of affected people. However, there
are few opportunities to hear local women’s
opinions. It is also rare to have women among
participants in a formal conference to decideupon the contents of assistance.

In local reconstruction councils, it is importantto have information sharing and a discussion.
One organization made a “child-friendly
version” of the documents relating to agovernment-made reconstruction plan inorder for children to understand local issues.
Some of the documents made by experts andgovernmental officers in charge are difficult tounderstand, not only by children but also by
ordinary adults. Making a “child friendly
version” is also useful to adults.

Regrettably, the needs articulated in meetingsand conferences do not always reflect theneeds of “all voices” in the community. It is
important to respect community leaders andtheir requests, but it is not enough.

Recovery andReconstruction

One disaster response worker says, “Womenand children are not the only people who do
not attend the conference and speak out. It is
important to include various voices by various
means, considering those such as persons
with disabilities and elderly people who mightalways be overlooked.

Preparedness

It is possible to pick up these missing voices
by holding “informal” gatherings, such as tea
parties, appealing for women and shogi(Japanese chess game) clubs for men.

Meeting at a town planning council

In addition, children’s community building
clubs were formed. Children interviewed
other children to help them to contribute tocommunity building plans. From now on,
children-made community plans are expected
to be included into the reconstruction plans oflocal governments and each community.

Evacuation

Evacuation

Listening to those who cannot
participate in meetings

Emergency
Response□ Voluntary Organization

Activities at Children’s Community Building Clubs(Photo credit: Save the Children Japan)

Temporary
Housing

30

Target Audience□ the Administration □ Community-based Organization□ Funding Organization □ Volunteer

Recovery andReconstruction□ Voluntary Organization

Preparedness

Emergency
Response
40

29

Target Audience□ the Administration □ Community-based Organization□ Funding Organization □ Volunteer

41