Interview Research on Immigrant Single Mothers
Affected by the Kumamoto Earthquakes

Kumustaka -Association for Living Together with Migrants

About Kumustaka
Kumustaka- Association for Living Together with Migrants was founded in
September of 1985 with its base in Tetori Catholic Church. It was originally founded as a
non-governmental organization Tainichi Azia Josei No Mondai Wo Kangaeru Kai(Association for Considering Issues of Migrant Asian Women) to help struggling Asian
migrant women. Due to the increasing diversity of problems and nationalities coming to
us for help, our name was changed to the current one in March of 2013, and our office
moved to Shinichiro Sudo Administrative Scrivener Office. Kumusta ka means “how areyou?” in Tagalog, the official language of the Philippines. Since then, Kumustaka has
been supporting immigrants and migrants regardless of nationality or gender, and is
striving towards the promotion of a multicultural society. We provide independent living
support and consultation services regarding human rights, including legal consultations.
We organize public symposiums and film screenings related to immigrant, migrant, andrefugee issues. We also provide suggestions to and make requests of government bodies,including the prefecture and local municipalities, to solve issues concerning immigrants
and foreign nationals.

The 2016 Kumamoto Earthquakes
1. The Kumamoto Earthquakes and the Resulting Damage
According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, as of April 14, 2017 there have been
4,296 earthquakes in total since the first main quake on April 14. Two earthquakes withan intensity of 7 occurred on April 14 and 16, followed by 5 earthquakes with anintensity of 6, 17 earthquakes with an intensity of 5, 117 earthquakes with an intensityof I4, 410 earthquakes with an intensity of 3, 1,168 earthquakes with an intensity of 2,
and 2,577 earthquakes with an intensity of 1.
Casualties of the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquakes calculated by Kumamoto
Prefecture include 227 deaths in total, consisting of 50 direct deaths, 172 indirect deaths(death from indirect causes, such as becoming seriously ill triggered by the disaster), and5 deaths due to the secondary disaster of heavy rain. Another 2,699 people were injured.
Following the major earthquakes, there were 6 solitary deaths in temporary housings.
The number of damaged buildings and residences has reached to 191,593. A total of
4,303 temporary dwellings have been provided. Additionally, 14,600 minashi

(quasi-)temporary dwellings - private apartments rented by the government- are being
planned, with 15,928 applications received so far. As of the end of April, 2017, thenumber of people living in temporarily housing and minashi temporary housing hasreached 47,168. The numbers of casualties, including indirect deaths, and damaged
housing continue to increase as the government continues to process applications fromvictims of the Kumamoto Earthquakes.
2. Features of the Kumamoto Earthquakes and their Impact on Immigrants andForeign Nationals
The Kumamoto Earthquakes were characterized by a number of features. First,
there were nonstop constant earthquakes for a long period of time following the twomain earthquakes with an intensity of 7, which occurred in the evening of April 14, andagain in the late-night of April 16. Second, a great number of evacuees were forced tospend more than a month in shelters and/or outdoors due to the slow recovery of utility
services and the fear of staying inside buildings. Third, there were a wide range ofdevastated areas with differing circumstances extended over a range of 100 square
kilometers within Kumamoto prefecture, including Kumamoto City, Koushi, Kikuchi,
Kamimashiki, Aso, Uki, Uto, Yatsushiro, and other southern areas running on or along
active fault lines.
There has been a huge impact on both immigrants and overseas tourists across
Kumamoto, many of whom were especially vulnerable to disaster. As of December 2015,
there were more than 10,767 registered foreign nationals with more than 3 months ofresidential status in Kumamoto prefecture. More than 50% (over 5,000 residents) areconsidered to have been negatively affected by the Kumamoto Earthquakes.

Interview Research on Immigrant Single Mothers
Affected by the Kumamoto Earthquakes
Background
According to the Immigration Bureau of Japan, more than 10,000 medium- to longterm foreign residents, with residential status of 3 months or more, live in Kumamoto
prefecture as of December 2015. This figure represents 0.6 % of the total population of
the prefecture (1,780,000). There are more female foreign residents living in theprefecture than male foreign residents: 6,827 female foreign residents (63 %) versus
3,940 male foreign residents (37 %).
The followings are the top 10 nationalities of foreign nationals currently residing inKumamoto Prefecture: 1) China (4,195), 2) Vietnam (1,610), 3) The Philippines (1,607),
4) South and North Korea (998), 5) The United States (319), 6) Taiwan (239), 7)
Indonesia (227), 8) Nepal (221), 9) Thailand (210), and 10) Cambodia (114).
The top 10 statuses of residence are 1) “technical intern training” (3,458), 2)“permanent resident” (2,869), 3) “student” (1,135), 4) “spouse or child of Japanesenational” (762), 5) “special permanent residents” (526), 6) “dependent” (523), 7)“engineer, specialist in humanities, international services” (388), 8) “long-term resident”(291), 9) “skilled laborer” (187), and 10) “instructor” (142). The holders of “permanent
resident,” “spouse or child of Japanese national,” or “long-term resident” total 3,923,
more than one third of foreign residents (36%) in Kumamoto. The majority of these
individuals appear to be immigrant women married to a Japanese national, although
included in this number are women who have become single mothers due to separation
or divorce, who have been widowed, and who had children outside of marriage.

About This Research
Objectives
In the wake of the earthquakes there were many immigrants and foreign nationals
who were classified as “People Requiring Assistance During a Disaster,” who were andcontinue to be negatively affected by the Kumamoto Earthquakes of 2016, among whomare significant numbers of immigrant single mothers. In general, these immigrant single
mothers tend to be socially isolated, have limited access to information, and limited
connections to the Japanese community. Since they can be considered as one class ofvulnerable residents in society, we conducted interview research with immigrant single
mothers who were affected by the Kumamoto Earthquakes. This research was conducted
to better understand 1) how immigrant single mothers coped at the time of the disasterand subsequent evacuation, and 2) what the challenges were that they faced as single
mothers and as immigrants. It is hoped that through an examination of the issues andneeds specific to this group of residents it will be possible to plan a support system for
future disasters, as well as to provide a medium to long-term network of support for
immigrant single mothers who were affected by the earthquake disaster in 2016.
Participants
The target participants of the interview research were immigrant single mothers unmarried, divorced, and widowed- who experienced the Kumamoto Earthquakes of
2016. We included those women who were not residing with their children at the time of
the interviews, or whose children had already grown up.
Participants were recruited from lists of persons already connected with
Kumustaka, as well as from their friends. Some participants were introduced by

Gaikoku Kara Kita Kodomo Shien Net Kumamoto (Support Network for Children with
Foreign Roots). Some participants were also introduced by interviewees post-interview.
The Fieldwork
The interviews were conducted between July 2016 and January 2017, and included
30 immigrant single mothers who experienced the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquakes.
Interviews averaged one to two hours long, and were all recorded. Interviews wereconducted primarily in Japanese (two of them with a Chinese interpreter, one in English,
and one in both Japanese and English), primarily at participants’ homes, although one
interview was conducted at an interviewer’s house, and another at a coffee shop. Eachparticipant received 10,000 yen after the interview as a relief effort, as well as a token of
appreciation. Participants were also provided with information regarding social
resources as needed, including victim relief services.

Results
Background of the Participants
The age of the 30 participants ranged from 30 to 56 years old (average 40.3). The
countries of origin were The Philippines, China, Taiwan, and Indonesia. Participants
responded having lived in Japan from 4 to 35 years (average 13.5 years). Most
participants had lived in Japan for more than 10 years, and there was only one woman
who responded living in Japan for less than 5 years.

Taiwan3％(1)Status of Residence

Age

Country
Indonesia
3%(1)

50s
6％(2)

China
20%(6)The Philippines
74％(22)30s
47％(14)40s
47%(14)naturalized
13%(4)

permanent
50%(15)

Purpose of First Arrival

Period of Stay
more
than20 y
17%(5)

long term
37%(11)less than 5 y
3%(1)5-10years
23%(7)

15-20 y17%(5)
10-15 years
40%(12)

study
3%(1)

wedding3%(1)family10%(3)

maririage20%(6)

work
64%(14)Of the 30 participants, 19 responded that they first came to Japan to work on an“entertainer” visa, and that they married a Japanese man whom they met within their 6months of stay. The reasons for other participants coming to Japan varied. Reasons
given by respondents included coming to study, coming to stay with family members
already living in Japan, and for the purposes of immigrating as a returnee from China
with her family during high school. Another participant explained that she came to
Japan for the first time for her wedding, but stayed in her country with her Japanesehusband for a while before moving to Japan when her husband was transferred back toJapan. Six women came to Japan for the first time after getting married with a Japanesenational in their own countries.
As for the participants’ households, 23 participants constituted single parent
households, while others responded that they were single-person households due to theirchildren having already grown up and moved to another location in Japan, or to live withfamily outside of Japan. There were two single parent households in which the mother’smother or sister were temporarily staying with them at the time of the earthquakes. The
average number of children per household was 1.1, and 12 participants had a child orTypes of HouseholdChildren Living Together
three
7% (2)

single23%(7)

singlemother70%(21)single mother &family7%(2)two
20%(6)

none
23%(7)

one
50%(15)

Children not Living Together
two
20%(6)

six
3%(1)

none
60%(18)one
17%(5)

Areas ofResidencechildren from whom they lived separately. Ten participants responded being in a
relationship but unmarried.
Of the 30 participants, 21 became single mothers after divorce, 3 had a child orchildren out of wedlock, and 5 had a child or children both during the marriage and outof wedlock. One woman was still residing with her spouse, but engaged in a legal conflictregarding marital support. Fourteen women described domestic violence and neglect as areason for the separations.
At the time of the interviews, the participants resided in 6 municipalities inside
Kumamoto Prefecture, in Yamaga in the north, and in Yatsushiro in the south. The
majority of respondents resided in the Central Ward of Kumamoto City. We were notable to interview anybody from Mashiki town, which was at the epicenter of theearthquakes. However, we were able to interview a woman residing in Aso, which was
one of the most devastated areas. In addition, another interviewee was in Aso at the timeof the earthquake on April 16, although she resided in Kumamoto.

April 14 Earthquake
The first main earthquake, preceding the main earthquake on April 16, hit
Kumamoto with an intensity of 7 at 9:26 p.m. on April 14, 2016. Seventeen participants
were at home at the time of the earthquake, while another 10 participants were working
at hostess clubs. Five of the 10 had their children at home alone, and 1 had her child at anursery care center. One woman was at a restaurant with her child and friend, andanother was at a store with her child buying snacks for a school trip scheduled for thefollowing day. There was also a woman who was at home by herself as her child wasstaying over at his grandparents’ house.
At the time of the interviews, many participants responded that they “were in apanic”, “did not understand what was happening,” “did not know what to do,” and “didnot know where to evacuate.” Interviewees who were not together with their children at
the time of the earthquake responded being very scared as they were not being able tocontact their children.
After the earthquake, 6 participants residing in Yamaga, Yatsushiro, Kikuyo, Aso,and Kita-ku of Kumamoto City, continued to stay at home as those areas were relatively
far from the epicenter. Four initially evacuated their homes, but came back home later
the same night. However, 20 out of 30 participants evacuated their homes and spent thenight outside the home until the next morning. Six of the 20 evacuees stayed at
evacuation shelters overnight, 4 of them evacuating directly from work in the companyof coworkers after picking up their children at home or at a nursery. The remaining two
participants were told where to evacuate by their neighbors.

During the Foreshock on 14thalone
13%(4)

otherlocation
10%(3)

at work 33%(10)

at home57%(17)

with otherthan thechild
33%(10)with child
54%(16)

Location of Evacuation on April 14
home(Stated Reason for Choice of Location)

10 “not severe damage” “too many evacuees at the shelter”“too scared to go outside”

evacuation shelter

6 “recommended” “too scared to be alone” “coworker founda shelter online”

park / playground

5 “many people there” “town announcement”

in car

5 “thought safer” “did not know where to evacuate”“daughter came to pick me up”

family’s or friend’s

3 “got a call from them” “just stayed together”

Fukuoka

1 “after talking with friends who evacuated into the car
together”

Participant A (Chinese)
Participant A was at a store alone shopping for her child’s school trip the next
day when the earthquake hit. She did not know what was happening and she
was too scared to move. All the bottles of wine on the shelves fell down andbroke to pieces. She hurried home to be with her child. Her child was crying
alone in the dark when she got home. The cupboard had fallen, dishes andglasses were broken, and the TV was also on the floor. She saw people
gathering at a park beside the apartment complex and spreading blue tarps on
the ground, so she joined them and spent the night there with her child. Food,water, and blankets were available. She cleaned her home the next day. She
bought neither reserve water nor food, thinking that another big earthquake
would not occur.”Participant B (Indonesian)
The earthquake hit when Participant B was at home with her children on April
14. She panicked, but the children were comparatively calm. She seriously
thought they would die, and her first concerns were for her children. After theshaking eased, she went outside with her children. She felt a little relieved
because her neighbors were also outside. They told her that it would be betterto go to an evacuation shelter, and they asked her to come with them by car.
However, that same evening she and her children returned home from the
shelter and she cleaned the mess in the apartment. She could not sleep until
the next morning since she evacuated outside after every aftershock.

April 16 Main Earthquake
The second large earthquake, the main shock of the Kumamoto Earthquakes, hit
Kumamoto at 1:25 a.m. on April 16. Differing from the earthquake the previous night,
only one participant was at work, while 18 were at home. Ten participants had alreadyevacuated their homes due to the previous earthquakes: 4 to the residences of family or
friends, 4 to evacuation shelters, 1 was staying in a car, and 1 evacuated to Fukuoka.
Twenty out of 23 participants who resided with their children were with their children at
the time, and 10 were also together with family or friends. One teenage child was athome alone as her mother was working at the time. One participant had her child at anevacuation shelter, while one had sent her children to be with their grandparents. One
participant who was in Kumamoto City on the 14th, evacuated to her ex-husband’s housethe following day as she had no other place to go, but the area in which the ex-husband’shouse was located was severely damaged on the 16th.

During the Main Shock o 16th

with otherthan child
17%(5)

evacuatedalready
35%(10)at work
3%(1)

at home62%(18)alone
14%(4)

with child69%（20）Location of Evacuation on April 16(Stated Reason for Choice of Location)

shelter

9 “brought by family, ex-husband or friends”

car

8 “too many evacuees in shelter” “picked up by
coworkers or ex-husband”

park,

8 “recommended by neighbors” “too many evacuees in

outside shelter

shelter” “told not to come to the shelter as it seemed
dangerous”

friend’s

1 “evacuated already after the first earthquake”

home (no evacuation)

1 “too scared to go outside home”

Fukuoka

1 “evacuated already after the first earthquake”

The main shock on the 16th was much stronger than that of the previous night.
Many participants feared they would die or not be able to evacuate outside, and a few
participants sustained injuries. Compared to the previous night, all the participants,
except one who had a fear of being outside at night because of a previous experience ofdomestic violence, evacuated their residences. Some of those who evacuated to a shelter
were there also the previous night, while others were brought by friends and family.

Participant C (Chinese)
After the foreshock on the 14th, Participant C stayed in a shelter with her son
and friends but came home around 11 p.m. since she could not sleep. Her 16year-old son decided to stay at the shelter because his friends were also there.
The main shock hit when she was finally about to fall asleep. She escaped thehouse wearing nothing but her pajamas. Thinking of her son, she started
crying out of fear of leaving her son alone should she die in the disaster. She
got a call from him right after she evacuated outside, and was told not to cometo the shelter because it could be too dangerous there. As people weregathered in a park in front of the apartment, she also stayed there until the
shaking eased, and then went to the shelter.

Participant D (Filipina)
Terrified by the continuing aftershocks, Participant D called her ex-husband
on the 15th and asked for help. She was sleeping in her ex-husband’shouse when the main shock came and the roof collapsed. The area
experienced a blackout and the house was filled with the smell of gas. She
managed to escape through the collapsed roof and over damaged furniture,
which she gave thanks to God for. She was injured and her face wascovered with blood; however, her desperation to survive outweighed any
feelings of pain or fear at the time. Her ex-husband was already outsidewhen she got out, and they went to a shelter together. She was able tosleep at the shelter, taking comfort in the thought that she would not die
alone in the case of another big earthquake.

Evacuations
After the earthquake on the 16th, no participant could continue the life they had ledprior to the earthquakes. Some returned home relatively soon, but there wereparticipants who remained evacuated for about half a year. In the interviews, we asked
where they had stayed after the16th. Half the participants responded that they had
experienced staying in a shelter. There was only one participant who stayed in a shelter
designated for foreigners set up by the Kumamoto International Foundation (KIF). Most
participants stayed in neighborhood shelters. There were some participants who wereforced to move shelters several times as over time, some shelters were closed or
combined with other shelters as evacuees gradually returned home. On the other hand,some participants decided to stay in cars or at the homes of friends because they were
uncomfortable with being surrounded by strangers, or with the sanitary conditions atsome shelters. Four participants fled to the less-affected areas within Kumamoto
Prefecture. Eight participants returned to their home countries temporarily, and one
participant sent her child to her home country. Four participants stated that discomfort
at being housed with only Japanese—with being the only non-Japanese—was the reason
for their moving to the shelter for foreigners, or to other places.

Locations of Evacuation Following the Earthquake of April 16(multiple answers)
shelter

14 “no other places to go” “aftershocks continued”“child did not want to go home” “did not want to be alone”

car

11 “scared of sleeping alone” “felt secure” “don’t like big
crowds” “uncomfortable with only Japanese in shelter”“did not want to use toilet in shelter”

family’s or friends’

10 “difficult to stay in a shelter”

home country

8 “no work” “worried about by family” “Kumamoto was notgood environment for the child” “mother’s death”

home

3 “limited damage to the house” “for child’s school” “did notwant to bother others” “cost too much to evacuate
outside Kumamoto”

hotel and other2 “uncomfortable with others in shelter” “child was sick”

lodging facilities“child did not want to stay with many Japanese”

park, or1 “had to move out of a shelter”

outside shelter

Participant E (Filipina)
Participant E spent many nights in her car parked in front of her apartment.
She did not stay in a shelter because there were a lot of evacuees andinadequate toilets. But the main reason for her choosing to stay in her car
was because she thought the Japanese government would primarily help
Japanese people, with immigrants like herself given the lowest priority. She
also assumed that it would be uncomfortable to stay in a shelter surrounded
only by Japanese. She did not know about the shelter for foreigners
operated by KIF. She heard there was financial support for immigrants toreturn to their home countries. As a result, she considered returning homein the event that her apartment collapsed as she did not have the money tomove into a new apartment.

Participant F (Filipina)
Participant F spent two nights in a car parked at the hotel where she
worked.

Subsequently, she moved her car to a hospital in order to stay

together with a friend who was not a staff member of the hotel. They spent
about 10 nights in the car. During the daytime, she spent time at her
customer’s prefab office during the daytime, and returned to her car after
dinner. She slept alone in her car sometimes, but at other times she andher friend stayed in her friend’s car as she let a boy from her hometown use
her car as he did not have one of his own. She temporarily returned to herhome country in May using her savings, along with money provided by oneof her customers. She returned to Kumamoto in June to look for a newplace to live, but she stayed at her customer’s office again for about twomonths because she could not find a new place. In September, she finally
moved into her current apartment which was introduced to her by her friend.

Difficulties During and After Evacuation
Even though some participants could return home relatively soon, every single
individual reported facing various difficulties, such as a lack of utility services, foodshortages, and no work. In the interview, we asked about their challenges during andafter the evacuation regarding their overall living conditions, their children, theirchallenges as a single mother, and the challenges they faced as an immigrant.
1. Overall Difficulties Related to Living Conditions
In the aftermath of the two large earthquakes there were continuous aftershocks
day after day. Many participants were anxious about the possibility of another big
earthquake occurring at any time. This added to the intense fear and trauma that
resulted from the major quakes on the 14th and 16th. Some were too scared to enter theirhomes, and would only do so to procure basic necessities. Some had to move aroundbetween several shelters as some shelters were closed or integrated with other shelters
as time passed. One participant reported that she was not able to continue to live in her
apartment due to intense fear experienced during the main earthquakes. As a result, she
moved out of the building even though the building itself was not severely damaged. We
also found that quite a few participants continued to have those fears and anxieties even

Overall Difficulties Related to Living Conditions
fear and anxiety（multiple answers）

22 fears of “what if...
-a big shake occurs when I’m without my child”-the building or housing where I am collapses”
anxieties over daily life-“concern over suspicious persons”

sleeplessness

22 fear/anxiety, “no space in car”, “noise in shelter”

water

15 toilet and bath, drinking water

lives in shelter

12 unsanitary toilet, “too noisy to sleep”, “stress of being
with strangers”, infections, anxiety, cold, “being shy”,“babies crying”

food

10 “stores closed”, “not enough food distributed”, “hardto secure food for children”

other

10 “became ill”, “not having a car”, “traffic jam”, “longline at gas station”, “new purchases to replace thosebroken”, financiallyat the time of the interview. Two participants insisted on keeping the door to theinterview room open during the interview. This was in December, almost eight months
after the two major earthquakes. They told interviewers that this was because they
believed that with the door open they would be able to evacuate in the case of anearthquake. Moreover, as the two major earthquakes occurred at night, many
participants reported being anxious at night, and said that they continued to sleep intheir cars even after returning home. One participant, who lives alone as her child had
already grown up, reported changing her job after the earthquakes in order to work atnight so that she wouldn’t be alone and scared at home.
In addition to the fear and anxiety over the earthquakes, 9 participants alsomentioned additional anxiety caused by problems in their daily lives, such as shortagesof food for their children, a lack of income without work, and difficulties in securing a
new place to live. Two participants mentioned that personal safety at the shelter or in a
car was a concern as they lacked the protection of a male family member.
Another common issue among the participants was sleeplessness. Some could not
sleep out of the fear and anxiety of another earthquake, and some worried about theirlivelihood going forward. One participant reported being unable to sleep anywhere,saying that a car lacked the space to stretch her body, the evacuation shelters were toonoisy, and that she was too worried about the prospect of her building collapsing inanother earthquake. This state of perpetual anxiety was the source of much stress,
causing her to lose considerable weight.
The shutdown of the water supply was a serious issue during the disaster, although
the power supply was restored soon in many areas. More than half of participants
answered that access to water was a problem. For many, accessing water for the toilet
and bathing seem to have been more problematic than securing drinking water. Manyevacuation shelters were out of water, resulting in an inability to flush toilets, so someparticipants said they tried as much as possible not to use them. One participant said
she did not want to wait for two to three hours to use a public bath. Unable to take abath, she had to clean her body with wet tissues provided by the shelter each day. Whenshe had her period, she used dirty water first and then rinsed herself with drinking.
Also, the cost of taking public baths and using coin laundry machines was mentioned asa difficulty.
Staying in an evacuation shelter, which half of the participants experienced,
appears to have been very tough for many participants. Especially for those with smallchildren, infections and other public health concerns factored large, with a few
participants reporting that their children became sick at shelters. However, for someparticipants, there was no choice but to stay in a shelter as they lacked a car and could
not return home. One participant said she was in a shelter even though she did not want
to be, reporting that she feared the shelter roof would collapse in the event of anotherlarge earthquake.

Participant G (Chinese)
Participant G stayed in a shelter, but it was uncomfortable because people
were talking loudly. Her child also could not sleep, so they went home. They
slept on the first floor for about a month, although she used to sleep on thesecond floor before. Since the earthquakes, she reported feeling veryscared, but did not know how to deal with it, and was unable to think ofother things. Finally, she made the decision to temporarily return to China
with her child as the child’s school was closed for about a month.

Participant H (Chinese)
Participant H reported that the toilet in the shelter was horrible. It stunk
badly due to a lack of water for flushing. She was only provided with a small
amount of drinking water in a plastic bottle that she could use to wash her
face and teeth. Although food was provided, a lot of people were in line
waiting. When she finally received food, it was only one rice ball per person,
which was cold and hard. There were no products at stores. She saw a
notice at a clinic, saying “only for serious condition.” It was hard to findmedicine as well. She had a friend who had an aged mother suffering fromheadaches, and it was only after trying three different stores that she could
buy medicine for her, which was difficult as she did not have a car. She also
reported being constantly tired due to a lack of sleep. Added to thesestresses were heavy rains, which she felt made Kumamoto a difficult place
to stay in the wake of the disaster.

2. Difficulties Related to the Children
Twenty-three out of the 30 participants lived with their children at the time of theinterviews, and 3 of them had a grown-up child who lived separately in Kumamoto or
inside Kyushu. When asked about difficulties related to children during and after
evacuation, 9 participants answered “nothing.” Looking at the ages of their children,
children of 5 of the 9 participants were in junior high or older. The remaining 4 hadchildren in high school or older, who were able to take care of their younger siblings.
Seven participants talked about how their children helped them by taking care of theirsiblings and by gathering information. From this it is possible to conclude that once thechildren reached a certain age they seem to have become a source of support for theirmothers. Also, in some cases children appear to be have acted as a source of information,
albeit sometimes indirectly. Some participants reported that the information regarding
disaster prevention that their children learned at school, or information they had
acquired from other parents at school, was very helpful. It was also reported thatchildren were a source of strength and hope in the midst of many difficulties.
Contrastingly, participants with small children appear to have experienced moredifficulties. The 14 participants who answered that they experienced difficulties all lived
with a child or children of elementary school age or younger. Ten of the participantsDifficulties Related to the Children
emotional/behavioral
changes（multiple answers）

10 “cannot sleep alone”, “avoidance”, “cannot stay athome alone”, “don’t want to go to school”, “nointention to try things”, “intense fear after even a small
shock”, “don’t speak”, “don’t listen to parent”

nothing special

9 “had support from families and friends”, “children werecalm”, “children helped collecting information”,“children called to help”

fear of being apart from

9 “could not go to work”

childrenchildren want to stay inshelter

5 “children weren’t lonely and enjoyed being with friends
in shelter”, “children hoped a big shock would comeagain”

food for children

3 “milk for babies”, “food allergies”

children became sick3 “caused by evacuation life in shelter”

impacts on study

2 “negative effect on high-school entrance exam
preparations”

worry children bothering

2 in a shelter or a public bathothersother“limited room for play(playground)”, “worsened
relationship with daughter”, “unstable schedule”,“stressful for a child who just came to Japan”

indicated changed behaviors in their children, as well as emotional difficulties such as“she did not speak a word for a few days as being in a state of shock.” Nine participants
stated that the anxiety over leaving their children at home alone to go to work in the
midst of continuing earthquakes as being a significant difficulty. Four out of the 9participants said they were thankful to have had a family member or friends to help
babysit the children, or to have a workplace that allowed them to bring their children
with them to work. However, those who did not receive any support were forced to takedays off from work. Some participants stated in the interview that they were still scaredof leaving their children alone.
At the time of the interviews, half (15) of participants resided in two-personhouseholds consisting of a mother and a child, and in four cases the children were ofpreschool age. Common to all four was that their child enjoyed their time as an evacuee.
Unlike at home, the child had other children or adults to play with, had meals together
with many people, and had different toys and food while outside the home. They said
that the child missed living together with many people after going back home, where
they had only their mother for company.
Interviews indicated that the issues faced by mothers of older children differedfrom those with younger ones. For participants with children in junior high or highschool, especially jukensei (a student preparing for entrance exam), the closing of schools
was one source of concern. Also, one participant was concerned about the stressexperienced by her child, who had just recently arrived in Japan and enrolled in a juniorhigh school. She expressed concern that her child was experiencing stress in adjusting to
the Japanese language and life in Japan.

Another participant, because she wasmentally unstable herself during the evacuation, had quarrels with her teenaged
daughter, who subsequently ran away for a short period before returning.

Participant B (Indonesian)Participant B was very anxious to leave her children at home alone to go towork. She wished to have her family in Japan to help babysit her children.
She felt that she was very lucky to be off from work on both the 14th and the
16th. If they were not together during the disaster, she said that she would
have panicked more.

She reported that thinking about her children helped

her to stay strong.

Participant I (Chinese)
Participant I’s child wished for another big earthquake because she
received a tasty sausage at the shelter. The child enjoyed the departurefrom normal life of being alone with her mother as she was surrounded byfriends and seemed to be happy. Participant I does not know how to explain
earthquakes to her child in Japanese. She reports that her child seems tolook down on her these days as she cannot communicate effectively inJapanese while her child can. One week after the closing of the child’spreschool caused the mother to be tired of being together with her child all
the time. Her daily routine had changed drastically, and she expressed thatshe felt like she could not handle it anymore.

3. Difficulties as a Single Mother
Many participants indicated loneliness and anxiety as difficulties stemming frombeing a single mother. A participant said that “the feeling of security is different withouta man.” Although they had the same feeling of loneliness and anxiety even prior to theearthquakes, the feeling appears to have intensified during the disaster. Twoparticipants reported that they wanted a husband when their children got sick since
they also felt insecure. Six participants said that they had no one else to rely on so thatthey contacted their ex-husband or the father of their child. One participant started
talking about how lonely and hard it was to have a newborn baby during the disaster,and the interview had to be briefly halted until she was able to regain her composure.
Other difficulties as a single mother included financial struggles and thechallenge of balancing work with parenting. Some participants talked about not having
enough time with their child as they worked another job at night or on weekends tomake ends meet, and some talked about anxiety over leaving the children at home alone
while working. On the other hand, some participants said that they did not feel any
difficulty as a single mother because they received help from their family, friends, andneighbors. Some also said that they did not need a husband because they thought thateven if they had one, he wouldn’t be any help. Some talked about a husband as a point ofaccess to Japanese language and culture, equating not having a husband with notunderstanding Japanese. They sometimes talked about a husband as being equivalent toa vehicle, through whom they could more easily navigate the country and culture.
Difficulties as a Single Motherfear, loneliness, anxiety（multiple answers）
8 “insecure without a man” “intensified lonelinessduring the disaster” “nobody to rely on”, “safetyconcerns” “insecure future” “intensified anxiety
when the child is sick”

financial problems

3 “hard to make ends meet”

balancing parenting and work

4 “no time to be with child” “cannot leave childalone”other

2 “limited understanding of Japanese language andculture” “worry about sexual violence towards
daughter” “cleaning”, “manual labor” “having nocar”

nothing special

15 “having support from children, family, and friends”,“a husband wouldn’t be a help”

Participant I (Chinese)
Participant I felt really lonely during the earthquakes. She was very gratefulto her friends who gave her a call during the quake on the 14th and came topick her up after the earthquake on the 16th. She said she will never forget
the goodwill she received. Tearfully, she reported that it was very lonely
being a single mother. She said that she could not understand how her exhusband could ask her if she was scared, wondering who in the world could
be fine with being alone during such a disaster.

Participant E (Filipina)
After the big earthquakes, Participant E was concerned about her daughterin the event of another earthquake as her workplace was far from herhome. If anything should happen to her, she said, she had no family here
and her ex-husband is too old to raise their child. As an option, she reported
thinking about returning to her country where she has her own family andshe feels secure.

4. Difficulties as an Immigrant
When asked about difficulties faced by participants due to being an immigrant, 22participants answered, “Especially nothing,” since they were able to receive help fromothers even when they had some problems. There were positive comments such as“There was much support in Japan,” “Food and other supply was distributed fairly,”“Japanese are kind,” and “Japan is wonderful.” On the other hand, there were not a few
participants who experienced some challenges as a result of being immigrants. Fiveparticipants indicated that the language was a problem in some situations, such as when
they attempted to find an onsen (a hot spring). For example, some participants
experienced difficulty reading kanji (Chinese characters). There were also someparticipants who felt uncomfortable and, even worse, discriminated at evacuation
shelters, where the majority of evacuees were Japanese. One participant heard someone
talking about her in the shelter, saying that she was a foreigner. She also had no one
come to give information or talk to her at the shelter. There was also one participant who
talked about missing her family and home country as a difficulty stemming from being
an immigrant.

Difficulties as an Immigrant（multiple answers）

nothing special

22 “people were kind and helpful”

language

5 “could not understand as people talked too fast”, “could notread information”, “could not understand evacuation orders”

uncomfortable

3 “only Japanese in shelter”, “a child just arrived in Japan andhadn’t gotten used to Japanese life”

other

3 “discrimination”, “prejudice”, “family absence”,“could not ask for help”

Even among those who answered not having had any problems as an immigrant
during the disaster, there were some participants who experienced struggles which
would not have happened if they had been Japanese. One example of this was when
Japanese evacuees complained that Filipino evacuees did not understand Japanese, andthat their children stayed up late and were noisy. Another case involved an elderly
Japanese woman in the shelter who knowingly asked a participant’s child intrusive
questions such as ““Where is your father,” and “Why is he not here,” as there is a rumor
that all Filipinas in the area are single mothers. There were also some participants who
said they did not have any problems because they understood Japanese, but they also
said that it must have been very difficult for those who did not understand the language.
There were also some participants who spoke about general issues concerning people
from their country. For example, some participants related that “Filipinos don’t know
where shelters are,” or that “Chinese don’t know what to do when an earthquake hits.”

Participant J (Chinese)
Participant J says that Japanese know what to do because they are quite
familiar with earthquakes, but Chinese are not familiar, so they don’t know
how to prepare, where to evacuate, or how to protect themselves in thecase of such disasters. There was almost no earthquake information in
Chinese, so it must have been a big problem for those who did notunderstand Japanese. She understands it, so she had no problem acquiring
information. However, even so, she was unsure of procedures andconstantly wanted to know what would happen next, what to expect, andwhat to do.

Participant K (Filipina)
Participant K evacuated to a park and to a city office, and as the Japanese
were all quiet there, she felt that she could not raise her voice to ask for help.
She felt that she would look selfish if she did so because everyone wasstruggling. She was very anxious, and she was surprised to see someJapanese laughing in this situation. She was also surprised by some people
trying to secure some space for themselves as if it was first come, first served,
and others applied make-up as if nothing special was going on. She thoughtthat not a few people acted inconsiderately.

Information
In the interviews, we asked “How did you acquire earthquake-related
information?” Most of the participants (24) seem to have acquired information throughacquaintances and contacts, such as family, friends, and co-workers. There were also
many participants who exchanged information with friends from the same country
through SNS or text messaging, and who depended on friends who understand Japaneseor had a Japanese husband. For some participants, children were also helpful ingathering information and bringing what they learned from school back home.
Source of information

Source of information(multiple answers）
SNS

21(person)friend17

Facebook

16

fellow national

9

LINE

7

Japanese

4

WeChat4

work place

7

Instagram1

supporter

5

unknown

2

child

4

TV

18

family

4

radio

5

neighbor

4

at shelter

7

ex-husband

3

other:

internet community

3

town broadcasting, internet, circularparent of the same school2

notice, newspaper, emergency alarmfrom cellphone, texting message, KIF

As information tools, SNS was popular among many

Info in first language

participants, with WeChat popular among Chinese, andnothing

15

Facebook popular among Filipinos. TV was another primarySNS3source of information for many, with some respondents saying

friend2“TV was always on in the shelter,” or “I turned on the TV for

news

1

24 hours.” There were only 5 participants who used a radio tonewspaper1acquire information, while another 5 acquired informatione-mail1

from public institutions, such as municipal governments, KIF,
and chonai-hoso (in-town broadcasting).
Half the participants said they could not acquire information in their first
languages. Even if they did receive information in their language or in English, theamount appears to have been very limited. Two participants reported that they could notreceive any information regarding the earthquakes and relief services either in theirlanguage or in Japanese. Five participants reported that acquiring information was a
problem particularly because it was only in Japanese. As to the information they wanted
to know, the most frequent responses were information about aftershocks (6participants), such as when another big shock would come and when the earthquakes
would stop, information about what to do during earthquakes (3), information about thelocations of shelters (3), information about water (2), information about food distribution(1), and general information about support services (2).

Participant L (Filipina)
Participant L did not receive any information on the earthquakes or afterearthquake support. Even though she exchanged some information with her
Filipino friends via Facebook or emails she did not have any other sources of
information as she could not read Japanese. Besides, her TV was broken in
the disaster. At the time of the interview, she reported not having any
information about support services. Even when she came back to the city fromthe southern part of the prefecture, she did not have a good understanding of
the situation.

Participant M (Filipina)
Participant M acquired information from a service called Earthquake Early
Warning via her cellphone, from friends and their husbands, and from
Kumustaka. She also watched TV, listened to the radio, and checked Yahoo’s
Earthquake Early Warning service. She heard the announcement about food
distribution from chonai hoso (in-town broadcasting).

She belongs to a

Filipino LINE group. On Facebook, her friends posted information in Tagalog.
She primarily sought information about what had happened, what would
happen, where to evacuate, and how to protect herself.

Housing
All of the participants, with the exception of two, lived in rental housing, including
private apartments and public housing, prior to the earthquakes. About half theparticipants (46%) had their housing damaged, and 21 (78%) had some householdbelongings damaged. Seven participants moved into a new place following theearthquakes, with five of them moving within the same district, and 2 moving from thenorth ward to the central ward in Kumamoto City. Three participants, whose
apartments were classified as hankai (half-destroyed), could not continue to live there,
and had no choice but to move. One participant, whose apartment was classified as

ichibu sonkai (partially destroyed), also moved due to the fear that her apartmentcomplex would fall off of a nearby cliff in the event of another large earthquake. There
was another participant who reported moving because she could not endure living in aplace where she had felt such intense fear during the earthquakes, even though theapartment itself was not seriously damaged.

Housing

beforeafter

private apartment

20

21

public housing

5

5rented house3

2

owned house2

1

lodger1

Housing Damage

Damage to Household Belongings
none / few
22%(6)

more than "hankai"
10%(3)
particaldamage37%(11)severedamage22%(6)no damage
53%(16)some damages
56%(15)At the time of our interviews, there were only 4 participants who had applied for

risai shomeisho (disaster certificates). The status of their housing were daikibo hankai(large-scale half destroyed) (1), hankai (half destroyed) (1), and ichibu sonkai (partiallydestroyed) (2). Those whose housing were certified as dakibo hankai and hankai’ hadalready moved into new apartments at the time of the interview, utilizing the minashi(quasi-) temporary housing system. However, one participant, having resided inseriously affected areas, had her room severely damaged to the point that it was sitting
at an angle. Despite this situation, she paid all the expenses to move as she did not know
about the risai shoumeisho (destruction certificate) or other relief support services.

Participant L (Filipina)
Participant L did not apply for a risai shomeisho because she did not haveadequate information about it. She also reported that she did not think that herapartment was seriously damaged. However, she moved into her current twostory apartment in early August because it became too scary for her to live andsleep in such a tall building after the earthquakes. When moving into her
previous apartment, she was unable to rent it under her name because she
was not a Japanese citizen. Instead, she rented it under the name of her
friend’s Japanese husband. Therefore, as she thought it would be the same
this time, she asked her friend’s husband for assistance from the start. He
agreed to help and the rental process went smoothly.

Participant F (Filipina)
Participant F and her friend used to live in a house that the “mama-san”(woman who runs the establishment) of the hostess bar they worked had
rented to her employees. Her friend’s room was damaged a little, but her room
was seriously damaged. The landlord did not intend to repair the house as it
was old. At the time of the interview she had no plans to use the relief
assistance to move because she said that she did not have anywhere else tostay after the divorce, and the mama-san let her stay for a reduced rent
(20,000 yen a month following some negotiation).

Immigrant Single Mothers and Information at the Time of the Disaster
People accumulate information through their own experience and education, andthere is big difference in the accumulated information of people born and raised in Japanand that of those who were born and raised abroad. People born and raised in Japan are
more likely to have experienced actual earthquakes, and to have received disasterevacuation training at school. They probably know that schools become shelters in thecase of disasters, and that food, water, blankets, and some other supplies would be
provided there. However, earthquakes do not occur in every country. Many immigrant
single mothers have neither experienced earthquakes nor received disaster prevention
education. Only 7 participants reported that they made any earthquake preparations,such as water and flashlights, or had experience of disaster prevention training. Eightparticipants had no knowledge of earthquakes, and did not make any preparations forearthquakes or other disasters. As a result, they did not know what to do when theearthquakes started.
There were also differences in the information received by participants, which was
highly dependent on the Japanese language ability of the participants, as well as theirrelationships with others. With the exception of one participant who had lived in Japanfor 4 years and 4 months as the time of the earthquakes, all participants had lived inJapan for more than 5 years. Twenty-nine (94%) reported having no problems
communicating in Japanese for the purpose of daily conversation, and 5 participants
reported having business level conversational skills. However, there were many
instances during the interviews when participants did not understand questions andexplanations from the interviewer in Japanese, and others in which the interviewer had

Japanese Language Ability of the ParticipantsComprehension Level

Speaking

business
17%(5)

easy
comversation
6%(2)

daily
comversation
77%(23)own name only

1

3.3%

kanji only

1

3.3%

hiragana only

2

6.7%

hiragana and katakana

8

26.7%

hiragana, katakana, andsome kanji

11

36.7%

intermediate level

5

16.7%

business level

2

6.7%

difficulty understanding their Japanese. Reading and writing in Japanese appeared tobe more difficult for participants. Twenty-three participants reported having difficulty
understanding handouts and documents from schools or the government. In such cases,
they told interviewers that they either asked their family and friends to read theinformation for them, or simply left the information unread. It is doubtful that thosewith limited Japanese language skills (especially reading skills) understood earthquakerelated information released by the governments in Japanese. There were only 5participants who reported having obtained information from public agencies, and 2 of the
5 said the information concerned relief supplies and shelters and was obtained throughchounai housou (in-town broadcasting). Although KIF (available in English, Chinese,and Korean) and Kumustaka (in 9 languages, including Tagalog, Chinese, andIndonesian) released multilingual information online (via websites and Facebook
accounts), only one participant reported accessing these services. No participant reported
accessing the Kumamoto City website or the Kumamoto Prefecture website, which
employ an automatic translation system. Twenty-six participants acquired earthquakerelated information from those whom they had regular contact, such as family, friends,
and co-workers. Throughout the interviews, we observed that for single mothers tosurvive in Japanese society, it was importance to have interpersonal connections.
Only 5 participants answered that they had a language problem during theearthquakes and subsequent evacuations. Others confided that even when they did notunderstand information or instructions in Japanese, it was not a problem because theyreceived help from people around them. However, at the time of the interviews westrongly felt that adequate earthquake related-information had not reached immigrant
single mothers. To the question “Did you apply for risai shomeisho (destruction

Risai Shomeisho (destruction certificate)applied4

did not apply24

did not knew at all

12

did not know well5

certificate)?” many participants responded by asking “What is that?” Some said they had
heard about it but did not know the details, saying “I was too shy to ask someone about
the earthquake victim assistance system,” or “I’ve heard the words ‘hankai’ and ‘zenkai’
but I don’t know what they are.” However, to our surprise, the majority of participants
responded that they had not even heard of a risai shoumei or about other relief support.
Although many participants said that they did not have any language related problems,
we feel that information about the existence of relief assistance such as risai shoumei,
which is well known among Japanese living in Kumamoto, was hardly known among
immigrants. Clearly, it is necessary to disseminate multilingual information more
effectively and efficiently.

The Earthquakes Effect on Immigrant Single Mothers’ Jobs
At the time of the interviews, 21 (70%) participants were single mothers residing
with children, and 15 of them reported not having family or relatives in Japan. They
have navigated Japanese society and survived the earthquake disaster by utilizing
support networks, such as friends and co-workers, that they established by themselves
following their arrival in Japan. However, even with such support networks, it appeared
difficult for them to receive financial support and help in caring for their children. The
continuing aftershocks following the two main earthquakes were a major source ofanxiety when participants were forced to be away from their children. We noticed ahigher degree of anxiety in participants who lacked family support. Even with smallchildren, those who had family support said it was a great help and that they truly
appreciated it. The anxiety from the earthquakes and aftershocks, and from being apartfrom their children, had a considerable effect on immigrant single mothers financially.
According to the survey on single-parent households conducted by Kumamoto
Prefecture, 43.5% of the jido fuyo teate (child rearing allowance) recipients were regular
employees, and 38.4% were non-regular employees prior to the earthquakes. Amongst

Occupation

primary job

secondary job

English teacher

21

sales clerk

31care worker/nursery2

hostess (cocktail waiter)

10

4

food processing worker

41

manufacture worker

2cleaning worker

2

examiner

1

Office clerk

1

farmer1

unemployed2

1

restaurant staff

1

interpreter2

respondents there were no regular employees, and all of them, with the exception of 2
self-employed and 2 welfare recipients, were non-regular employees, such as part-timeworkers or temporary dispatched workers. It is difficult for a single mother to manage
work while raising a child alone, especially for those with a small child, and the timethey can be available, not to mention the types of work they are able to perform, can bevery limited. Limited Japanese language skills and prejudice against foreigners insociety are additional obstacles for immigrant single mothers seeking employment. The
result of this is that they are often only able to find unstable employment.
It is not easy for immigrant single mothers to earn adequate income to from asingle job due to low wages. Eleven participants reported having more than one job,

Jobs of Single Parents

Jobs of Interviewees(Kumamoto Prefecture's Survey)(Kumustaka's Research)

umemployed10%
self
employed5%irregular
38%

N/A
3%

self
employed
7％(2)regumar44%

unemployed/
welfare7%(2)irregular
86％(26)

Impact on Employment

Employment Suspended

no jobs
10%(3)

no change
in income
12%(2)
compensation
6%(1)

no impact
10%(3)

no wage orcompensation
82%(14)

impact80%(24)

which was about 39% of the participants who were working. Thirteen out of 28
participants who disclosed their earned incomes to us earned less than 150,000 yen permonth, with the majority earning around 100,000 yen. One reported working for 5.5hours a day part-time on weekends and other holidays, in addition to her regular work,
even though her main job required her to work 40 hours a week plus overtime. However,
she reported barely making ends meet with her total income around 150,000 yen. Twelveout of 15 participants whose monthly wages were more than 150,000 yen, worked as a“hostess” (cocktail waitress) as a primary or secondary job. According to the Ministry of
Health, Labor, and Welfare, 50.8% of single parent households were living in a state ofpoverty as of 2016. However, this study indicates that the percentage of immigrant
single parents in poverty appears to be much higher.
The Kumamoto Earthquakes affected immigrant single mothers and theiremployment and financial situations significantly, which were not easy even prior to theearthquakes. Eighty percent of participants reported a negative impact to theiremployment situation. Among17 participants who were off from work due to decisions
made by their employers, one was paid during the down time, one was paid half of her
normal wages, and another used her paid-leave. However, the remaining 14 participants(82%) received no income during the shutdown, receiving neither income norcompensation. Even after their work started again, 9 of them were forced to take leavesof absence because they could not leave their children at home alone, or had to clean andfix their residences. Eight out of the 9 had no income during the time, while only one

Impact on Job（multiple answers）

work closed

17

leave of absence for personal reasons

9decrease of working hours

6change of job

3

participant used her paid leave. Six participants who worked in the service industry, atplaces such as hotels or bars, stated that their hours and pay were cut as businessdeclined, possibly due to the overall decline in the tourist and service industries across
Kumamoto following the earthquakes. Thus, some of them changed jobs, while others
started another job while maintaining their original employment. Eleven participants
stated that their financial situations became much harsher, and that they were worried
about how to make a living in the future. Some participants had no choice but to borrowmoney to make ends meet. The majority of the single mothers were already struggling
financially to make ends meet even prior to the earthquakes. However, the earthquakes
significantly worsened their financial situations. As non-regular employees, they lost
income due to not being covered by a compensation plan. The earthquakes had a severely
negative impact on the lives of the single mothers interviewed.

The Stories
The Story of Rosa -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------When the earthquakes started, Rosa had just started a new life with her
three children, including a new born baby after the divorce from her Japanesehusband.
April 14 Foreshock
The first earthquake hit Rosa and her family when they were having dinnerwith friends from the same apartment. She did not know what happened but
thought it was a ghost showing up. Her friend’s husband shouted it was anearthquake. Rosa grabbed her two children and fled outside, where she watched apart of the apartment building collapse. Remembering that moment, she said she
felt “Panic, panic, and panic.” She and her friends went to pick up her third child
who was at a sports practice. Then they stayed in her friend’s car in a parking lot
overnight.
The next day she evacuated to Fukuoka with her children and her friend’s
family, but she was still in a state of panic. She took sedatives (thirty pills) anddrank lots of alcohol until she blacked out. After surviving the stress of an abusive
relationship and the subsequent divorce, she felt devastated at having lost her new
home and at not knowing what to do and where to live. With so many troubles, she
was desperate and thought that she wanted to die.
Uneasy Life at the Evacuation Shelter
After the main earthquake on the 16th’, Rosa returned to Kumamoto with her
children. They stayed overnight in a camping tent at the property next to her
friend’s house. But it was rainy and cold outside, and she felt scared there. So, thenext day, her friend took her and her family to an elementary school which had
become an evacuation shelter. The shelter was very crowded, and the only space
they could find for themselves was beside the shoe boxes at the entrance. It was
cold, and cats and dogs were nearby. This was a harsh environment for Rosa, who
had small children. She felt like an outsider and very uncomfortable as no one
talked to her there and she heard someone saying, “That’s a foreigner there.” Thefood provided was inadequate. She received only a small amount of milk in aplastic bag for her baby. Obtaining hot water was very difficult even if she wanted
to feed her children. She felt she could not handle it anymore, and called
Kumustaka and was brought to Kumamoto City International Center.

Different

from the previous shelter, there was a lot of food and other relief supplies, people

were generous, and she did not have any language troubles. As evacuees were fromvarious countries, her anxiety lessened. She made friends with other evacuees, andthey later helped her clear her apartment in preparation for moving.
However, her children continued to suffer psychologically, and panicked every
time there was an aftershock. They suffered from eczema, and all of her family
members caught a cold. She was also worried that the loud noises made by her
children might be troubling other evacuees. Making trips to a public bath and coinlaundry were also troublesome, and she was forced to spend a lot of money.
Concern about the Future
Following the main earthquakes, Rosa became very anxious about theprospect of securing a place to live and new employment. As a result, she began
drinking alcohol more often after the earthquakes, and the relationship with heradolescent child deteriorated. Rosa felt lonely and anxious about her life, especiallyconsidering that she was raising three children (including an infant) on her own.
When we asked her what the difficulties were of being a single mother, she broke
into tears and was unable to answer.
The Story of Mary ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Mary married a Japanese man, had a child with him, and divorced. Currently
she works 5 to 6 days a week in a factory to raise her child. She has to take a day
off sometimes since her child is still small and got ill often. Her ex-husband has not
paid her child support, so she has trouble making ends meet. However, herbiological sisters live close to her home and are a source of support.
April 14 Foreshock
When the foreshock hit in the evening of the 14th, Mary was watching TV
with her child in the living room. That was the first big earthquake she had everexperienced. A shelf almost fell down. She held her child with one hand and theshelf with the other hand, and then she went under the kitchen table with her
child. She called a friend from her church. The friend told her to get outside, so shechanged her clothes and went outside to evacuate to her younger sister’s home. Her
child seemed to be in shock and scared, and was silent for a while.
April 16 Main ShockMary was sleeping with her child at her sister’s house when the main shock
hit on the 16th. “Stay still,” shouted her sister’s husband. Then she placed her bodyover her child covering both of them with a futon. The shaking was much more

severe than on the 14th, and many things fell to the floor. She was very scared andbegan to panic. However, being a mother, she held her child tight and tried tosoothe her. “We’ll be okay if we keep praying to God. He will protect us,” said Maryto her child again and again. Her child, however, could not speak even a word.
Once the shaking eased, they went outside and stayed in a car.
Two Week Evacuation in a Car
Mary, her child, and her sister’s family stayed in an evacuation shelter only
for one night. Due to the crowding, they decided to use their cars for temporary
shelter, which they parked in front of her sister’s house, a supermarket, or her
workplace. Although there was little damage to her apartment and no impact on
the utilities in her local area, she was too scared to be in the apartment. She would
hurriedly cook in the apartment before returning to the car to eat, and only took ashower every other day. She spent two weeks in this way. After that, Maryreluctantly returned home after her sister’s family and other neighbors went home.
Still scared, she ended up spending two more nights in the car.
Balancing Work and Parenting
Mary’s employment resumed quickly without severe impact from theearthquakes, but Mary could not leave her child alone, so she did not go to work fora week. However, she eventually decided to go back to work because she needed theincome. Small aftershocks continued even after she returned to work. She got
nervous every time the ground shook. “You will get used to it,” her co-workers told
her. However, she never did, and spent her time at work worried about her child.
During the disaster, her child often became sick often, and could not speak fora while after the earthquakes. Worried about the prospect of future earthquakes,
she asked her sister to take care of her child instead, even after the preschool
reopened. Now her child often wants to go to the homes of her sisters’. Mary thinksthat this is due to the loneliness of living only with her mother.
Because she has not returned to The Philippines since coming to Kumamoto,
Mary wants to return home to show her child to her parents sometime soon.
The Story of Maria -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Before the earthquakes Maria lived with her Japanese husband and their twochildren. Even after the couple separated, they continued to life under the sameroof. She decided not to divorce because she was worried about the future of herchildren.

April 14 Foreshock and April 16 Main ShockWhen the two big earthquakes hit, Maria’s husband was hospitalized. Her
house had little damage from the earthquake on the14th. However, the shakes weremuch more intense on the 16th, and the house was damaged. A lot of things fell
down inside her house, and she could not get outside easily. Once the shaking
eased, she pushed against the broken door hard again and again in order to get out.
She evacuated to a park nearby with her children but without any of her
belongings. She saw that a condominium in front of the park was slowly slanting.
It was a terrifying moment for her. She also saw some residents inside thecondominium trying to get out by breaking the windows. After sunrise, she and herchildren went to a junior high school nearby to evacuate.
Three-Month Evacuation
Maria and her children spent two months as evacuees at a gym of a local
junior high school. They could not sleep inside the gym, so they slept in her car
parked outside the gym. Two months later, they moved to a shelter at the ward
office and spent another month there. What Maria felt was most difficult during
the time was water. The water supply stopped for days, both in her house and the
shelters, and water trucks could not come because of damage to the roads. As aresult, they went to different shelter to get water. To take baths, she traveled to aneighboring city, where she waited for 3 hours and paid 2,000 yen for a family batha few times.
Language Problems
It wasn’t until Maria’s husband was released from the hospital that shelearned about available disaster relief assistance. She also learned that earthquake
victims could take a public bath for free. However, she did not think she could havemade use of this service because she had a hard time finding public baths as she
could not read kanji. All the signs at the shelter were in kanji at first, so she did
not understand what was what. However, the principal of the school added
katakana to the kanji, which made it easier for her to read and was helpful.
In the same shelter, there were three single-mother families from her native
country.

Japanese evacuees complained about their children staying up late andbeing noisy, but the mothers could not communicate well in Japanese. Maria did
not have any problem speaking Japanese, so she interpreted for them and gavethem some information.

There were many relief supplies provided at the shelter, and she knew some
immigrant single mothers who did not go to a shelter because they did not want tofeel uncomfortable as Japanese evacuees might complain about them. She gathered
relief supplies for the immigrant women at the shelter and brought the supplies toshare with them.
Even though Maria doesn’t have any problem conversing in Japanese, shecannot read kanji, so she did struggle to get information. She could not obtain any
information in her native language, and she could not understand the informationin Japanese on the TV or radio. So instead, she acquired information from
Kumustaka, parents from the same school, and her friends’ Facebook pages.
Not only Maria but also many other immigrants have difficulty in reading
and writing kanji. She wants information to be at least in hiragana or katakana if
her first language is not available. Maria and other immigrants had very limitedaccess to important information on food, water, coin laundries and other available
support and assistance. She also wanted to know about resettlement assistanceand other financial assistance as their house was classified as “half-destroyed,” buther husband and her mother-in-law told her nothing about it, saying that it wasnone of her business.
About Children
Maria was concerned that her children would not want to go to school after
the earthquakes and they had lost motivation. They did not eat as much as theyused to because the food supplied at the shelter was different from their usual
meals. She was also worried that they would not be able to stop playing with theirsmartphones, which, she thinks, was caused by the environment at the shelter,
where there was very limited space to play and many smartphone users.
The Story of Lora -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Lora currently works as a hostess to make a living for her and her child. She
divorced from her Japanese husband shortly after giving birth. Co-workers andother staff at her work have been supportive and helpful whenever she has someissues. She also has some friends from the same country with whom she can talkto.
Child at Nursery During the Foreshock
Lora was at work when the foreshock occurred. She was on the seventh floor,
which shook badly, and the workplace became a big mess. She seriously thoughtshe would die as she could not get outside easily. She just hoped her child would
survive.
Once the shaking eased, she went to pick up her child at a nursery nearby. All
the children at the nursery were crying and she felt so sad for them. Not being able
to return to her work as the building had a gas leak and a temporary ban onentering, she had no choice but to wait in a park nearby with her co-workers. Laterthat night, one of the co-workers found on the internet that an elementary school
nearby had become an evacuation shelter, so they walked there together.
Lora was in the gym of the elementary school when the main shock occurredon the 16th.

There were about 300 evacuees inside there. She quickly grabbed herchild and rushed outside.
One Month Evacuation
Lora and her child spent a month as evacuees at the elementary school gym.
For the first two days she was provided with only rice balls to eat. Toilets there
were terrible as they lacked water to flush. She did not go home during the firstweek and borrowed some clothes from her friends. She could not sleep well at the
shelter, which was a source of stress for her.
In the middle of May, the shelter closed and she returned home, but she wastoo scared to be in the apartment, so she decided to return to her home country forabout two weeks. All the other co-workers from the same country also went home
temporarily. Even after she returned to Kumamoto, she still had trouble sleeping
as the aftershocks continued. However, she decided to be strong; otherwise she
could not do anything, she thought.
Contrary to Lora’s expectation, her child enjoyed staying at the shelter very
much, as there were many other evacuees to play with. As a result, he wanted to go
back to the shelter after they returned home. Fortunately, the child ate and slept
well and stayed healthy without showing signs of emotionally instability. Lora
thinks her child must have been lonely when only the two of them lived together.
Future Employment
Lora’s work was closed for about a month after the earthquakes. She waspaid half of the salary and was given some consolatory payments during that time.
However, as her income deceased, she struggled financially and had to borrow somemoney.
The hostess club reopened and she returned to work, but she is worried thatthey do not have as many customers as before. The building is still under repair

and covered with nets, and she thinks the adjacent building is slightly slanted. Sheeven feels a little scared to work in the building. However, she truly appreciates
her co-workers for being supportive like a family. She is financially struggling but
she thinks “We all the same, so it’s okay.”
The Story of Sara -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sara lives with her daughter after her divorce from her Japanese husband.
She is currently working as a part-time hostess.
April 14 Foreshock
The big foreshock hit Sara and her daughter in the evening of 14th when they
were about to take a bath. She increasingly panicked as the shaking continued. She
rushed out her door, downstairs, and out to the parking lot, almost dragging her
daughter. When she came back to herself, she realized that her daughter wasshivering and crying. Her daughter had no clothes on, and her feet were scraped
and bleeding. She felt so bad for not having noticed, and she continued apologizing
to her over and over.
When she and her daughter evacuated to the nearby elementary school, she
received a call from her ex-mother-in-law with whom she has kept a good
relationship even after the divorce. The mother-in-law invited Sara and herdaughter to stay at their house, so they decided to do so.
April 16 Main Shock and Evacuation Life
After the main earthquake on the 16th, Sara, her daughter, and her motherin-law evacuated to a park nearby. Sara felt it was unsafe to return to the house, so
she decided to take everyone to an evacuation shelter. However, the mother-in-law,being drunk, disagreed, and said to Sara “Do you think the house is that weak?”She also asked her granddaughter, “Which do you choose, mom or grandma?” Sara
did not want to quarrel with her mother-in-law, but felt that it was more importantto protect her daughter. As a result, she decided to go to a shelter close to the housewith her daughter. As they were leaving, Sara heard the mother-in-law telling her
husband, “Sara doesn’t want to stay in this house anymore,” which made her cry.
The mother-in-law later apologized to Sara on the phone and came to pick them up.
However, Sara decided to temporarily stay in another evacuation shelter located at
the elementary-school near her apartment.

About the Daughter
During the ten-day evacuation in the elementary school, Sara’s daughter had
her legs touched by a boy whom she made friends with. Sara told one of the shelter
staff about the incident, and it appeared that there were other girls who weretouched by the same boy. The staff asked the boy’s mother to keep an eye on him.
Sara became very worried about her daughter, especially when she had to leave heralone at night to work. She did not go to work for a month as she could not leaveher daughter alone, but later became friends with Japanese single mothers in thesame shelter, who also worked at night. They took turns to watch over theirchildren when they had nights off. Her daughter was in a state of shock from theearthquakes for a few days, and said that she was lonely. Even now, she says she
does not want to see anything related to the earthquakes because that would
remind her of the experience.
Housing Problem
Sara’s apartment had a lot of cracks but was classified as “partiallydestroyed” according to the destruction certificate. Adding to her worries, the cliff
next to her apartment appeared ready to collapse at any time. Her daughter also
insisted that she did not want to go back to the apartment so Sara looked for a newplace to live. She had to pay a cancellation fee and rent for a month even though
she could not stay there after the earthquakes. She found a small, one-bedroom
apartment, but the rent was almost twice that of the previous apartment. She
might have been able to find somewhere cheaper, but she wanted a strong andsturdy apartment that was available to move into right away. She felt that there
was no choice at that time. She heard that there were some relief programs for theearthquake victims, but she did not know any of the details. She was also eager tosettle down in a new place as soon as possible. As a result, she paid the rent andother expenses to move out of her own pocket.
Her work has started again, but customers have not come to the club as often
as before. “They don’t have money nowadays,” said Sara laughing. She hopes to geta daytime job someday. “I want as ordinary life,” Sara said.
The Story of Marie -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Marie was married to a Japanese man, but divorced after giving birth. Now
she lives with her child. When the earthquakes happened, her other child, who isliving in her native country, was visiting her temporarily.

April 14 and Evacuation Life
When the foreshock occurred, Marie was working at a hostess club, and her
two children were at home alone. She called a lady in the same apartment, who
often cares for the family, and asked her to check the children to make sure they
were okay. Being apart, she was terribly worried. She rushed home by taxi as themulti-story parking lot she parked her car was shut due to the earthquake.
Returning to her house, she found the cabinet door opened, and most of thetableware in pieces on her floor. Aftershocks continued, so she and her children
walked to a park nearby. They stayed there for a while and returned home shortly
after. She was able to get some sleep that night.
On the 15th, Marie and her children went to the parking lot to get her car, andthen went shopping to buy water and other necessities. She was very tired andwent to bed early that night.

Then, the main earthquake occurred after midnighton the 16th. The power went out and the TV fell down. “Don’t panic,” her children
said to Marie. That’s when Marie realized that she was crying out loud.
Afterwards, Marie and her children spent the daytime in her apartment, andnights in her car parked at an elementary school. She could not sleep well inside
the car, so sometimes she would sleep in the morning after she returned home.
Marie did not choose to stay in the school, which was turned into an evacuation
shelter, because she was afraid of her children contracting infectious diseases
there.
Gas was restored soon after, but water service did not resume until the end of
April. During this time Marie learned first-hand the importance of water. Clearing
up the mess in the apartment was hard work because all electrical appliances,including a rice cooker and TV, were broken. As a result, Marie had to buy newones.
She visited Kumamoto City International Center often to receive relief
supplies and for consultation. She also went there for a soup kitchen service run by
volunteers originally from Marie’s country but now living in Fukuoka. Japanesepeople were all helpful there too. She did not attempt to procure many relief
supplies from the elementary school because she thought many evacuees there
were in more need than she was.
She experienced body shivers for two months after the earthquakes evenwhen resting. She thought that her children were tougher than she was. Theirexistence meant a lot to Marie.

Disaster and WorkAs the hostess club she worked was closed until the middle of May, Marie had
no work, no pay, and no compensation. Even without any income from work, she
still had to buy water and food, and replace electrical appliances. In addition, she
had to send money to her family in her country.

She struggled financially andcould not pay rent for a while.
After the earthquakes Marie went to Hello Work, a public employment service
office, but had to wait hours to use a computer for job searches. She wanted to finda daytime job, but it was difficult since so many people were also looking for work
after the earthquakes. Marie finally got a job in October 2016. Her current monthly
income includes wages of around 130,000 yen, a child allowance, and a childsupport allowance. She struggles to make ends meet with the money as she also
has to send some money for her child and her mother back in her home country, in
addition to supporting herself and her child here in Japan.
Marie’s dream is to continue her current employment and raise her children
well. She is careful about her own health to avoid being absent from work. She
wants to work during the day and also at night to get out of her financial
difficulties, but at the same time is trying not to work too hard.
The Story of Karen -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Karen divorced two times, and currently lives with two children in anapartment in southern Kumamoto.
During the Earthquakes
When the earthquake hit on April 14, Karen was at home with her children.
She had never experienced such a big earthquake before. She felt her heart
beating, and the children were very scared. She was afraid to go outside, so they
stayed inside the apartment that night. She could not sleep until the next morning
because of the nonstop shaking.
Karen described the effect of the main earthquake saying that the “Inside theapartment was turning around.” She felt she had to evacuate to somewhere, andtried calling a taxi, but the phone call did not go through. So she made contact withher friend through Facebook. The friend came to pick Karen and her children up,
and they went to a public facility nearby as evacuees.
In addition to the disaster, Karen was hit by shocking news from her homecountry on the 18th: her mother had suddenly past away. Karen’s mother was soworried about Karen after watching news about the earthquakes on TV that she
could not sleep and lost her appetite. Having high blood pressure, the mother lost
consciousness and died shortly after. Although Karen wanted to fly back homeright away, the road to Fukuoka Airport was shut, so she had to wait until it
reopened on April 22.
About the Children
Karen’s two children developed fevers from the stress of the earthquakes andfrom being cold in the shelter after moved there. Feeding her children was another
big problem for Karen as both children have food allergies. With limited foodavailable at that time, it was difficult to obtain adequate food that the children
could eat. Also, relief supplies provided at the shelter in southern Kumamoto
consisted only of food, with no water or sanitary products.
Karen’s became sensitive to even small aftershocks following the mainearthquake. Even now, they jump out of bed when the earthquake is an intensity of
III or more. She tries to soothe them by making jokes or telling them, “I’m herewith you. Don’t worry.”
Difficulties as an Immigrant
The shelter Karen stayed is located in southern Kumamoto, close to the
Ariake Sea. A handout that explained where and how to evacuate in case of atsunami was distributed to every evacuee at the shelter. However, the handout was
only in Japanese with lots of kanji. All immigrant evacuees there, including Karen,
could not read kanji, so they were very anxious at not knowing what to do in thecase of a tsunami. There was an actual tsunami alert once. The announcement
seemed to urge evacuation, but she did not understand what it was actually saying.
Not knowing what to do, she ran to her car and stayed there. She thought she
would give up her life and die with her children if a tsunami hit them.
Karen also experienced prejudice as an immigrant woman at the shelter.
There was a rumor among Japanese in her town that all immigrant women were
single mothers. One day at the shelter an elderly woman came to Karen’s child andasked her knowingly, “Where is your father? Why he is not here with you?”
Karen had to overcome the disaster and her mother’s death following theearthquakes. Even now her heart pounds and she cannot sleep when there are
relatively large earthquakes. “Things are tough now, but I’m a mother. I’ve gotta do
my best,” Karen says smiling.

The Story of Mari -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Mari married a Japanese man and gave birth to two children. She has notlegally divorced yet, but left her husband because of domestic violence. She
currently lives with her children in an apartment, and her own mother and sisters
also live nearby. She has a part-time job during the day and she also works as ahostess a few nights a week.
The Earthquakes
When the first earthquake hit on 14th, her youngest child had a fever of 39
degree Celsius. She was extremely scared as she had never experienced such alarge earthquake before. She almost panicked, but managed to calm herself bytalking to her children and by telling them and herself that they would be okay.
In the evening of the 15th, Mari left her children at her mother’s house andwent to work. However, the hostess club she worked was closed because of theearthquake, and she returned to her apartment by herself. She was alreadysleeping alone when the main earthquake hit. The power went out, and being alone
and in total darkness, she was terrified. Although her neighbors were evacuating
outside the apartment, she was too scared to be outside alone in the darkness as
she feared that her husband or a suspicious person might show up due to her
separation. Mari tried to comfort herself by contacting her friends throughFacebook and praying to God.
Family Support
After dawn, Mari went to her mother’s house to be reunited with her
children, and they spent three days there. When they returned to their apartment,
the power was back on, but there were still no water or gas. Even after they
returned home, for a while they continued to eat at the mother’s house and comeback home to sleep at night since her mother’s house was not as affected by theearthquakes as Mari’s, and she felt more comfortable there in the company of otherfamily members. Mari’s mother and her husband live in a one-story house with a
big yard. While staying in the house, Mari felt no fear and her children spent theirtime in peace.
Her mother took care of the children when the school was closed, so she could
go to work. Mari goes to her mother every time she has trouble. “Family is the mostimportant,” says Mari.

Changes
Mari felt that she and her children experienced psychological changes
following the earthquakes. Mari jumped up in preparation to rush outside evenafter small aftershocks for a while after the earthquakes. Even now she has trouble
sleeping, and often wakes up around 2 or 3 o’clock every morning. She still has
severe anxiety and a fear of being outside alone at night, so she rushes into herapartment from her car after she parks.
Her children have also become reluctant to stay at home by themselves,
which they did not have a problem with prior to the earthquakes. She is worriedand feels sorry about such a change. She finds it scary to be alone, and thinks thatbeing a single mother is “unsafe.” She says, “I cannot be strong without a man.”Information and Language BarriersMari experienced a language barrier during the disaster as there was no
disaster-related information either in her native language or in English. Some
disaster-related terms and kanji such as hinanjo (evacuation shelter) were difficult,so she searched for word meanings online. She obtained information mostly fromher friends through Facebook, and sometimes from her customers at the hostessclub. She heard at work that those who had their house damaged could receive
financial assistance or have their houses repaired, although at the time of theinterview she did not know about risai shomei’.
Mari says she has a dream of owning her own house for her children. She also
hopes her children will have the freedom to live as they please.
The Story of Rita -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Rita married a Japanese man and moved to Japan, but separated just before
giving birth to her child and is currently divorced. After the separation, she wanted
to go back to her country as giving birth and parenting alone in a strange country
seemed very stressful. However, she decided to stay in Japan for the future of herchild. The earthquakes occurred shortly after she secured new employment in April
2016.
April 14
Rita was at home with her child during the earthquake. At first she did notunderstand what it was, but after she realized the situation she was not overly
scared. However, she suddenly felt intense fear and started shivering once she got
a call from her work, in which she was warned that another large earthquake waslikely to come. She became even more scared when an emergency earthquake alert
service started ringing on her cellphone. She grabbed her child and rushed out
from her apartment in her pajamas, but she did not know where to go or what todo. She went into a restaurant on the first floor of the apartment where one of thecustomers covered her child’s head with a pot, and they went outside together. She
was so scared that she was in tears. For the first time since her divorce she wishedshe had a husband, and thought that it is hard to live without a man.
Once Rita went outside, she noticed that people were going somewhere, but
she did not know where. She stopped some people walking by and asked where
they were heading to. That was how she learned that there was a place called ahinanjo and that was where she could evacuate to. She had never heard the word
hinanjo and did not know that is was a place where people could go during adisaster.
The owner of the restaurant told Rita that an elementary school nearby had
become a shelter, and her neighbor took her and her child there by car. While in the
shelter, she received a call from her workplace telling her to come there because theelementary school was old and dangerous. Then her co-worker came and picked
them up at the shelter. She also received an international call from her family backhome after the earthquake. She did not want to have her mother worried about her,so she told her that the earthquake was not where she was. “I’m fine. I’m fine,” said
Rita to her mother, but in fact she was not fine at all.
April 16
Rita worked next day, on the 15th. After work, she was sleeping there with her
child when the main earthquake occurred. Someone cried out, “Be a pill bug!” She
did not know what it meant, but as she saw other people curling up, so she grabbed
her child and did the same. Everything at the workplace, such as papers andtableware fell down, and the place was a terrible mess. The fear she felt during thismain shock was so intense that it could not be even compared to that of the night
before. Even now, Rita believes that she could have been killed if she had not beenwith her co-workers.
Stay at the Community Center as Evacuees
For the next two weeks following the earthquakes, Rita and her childevacuated to a community center close to her work. She got up at seven in themorning to go to work and came back to the center in the late afternoon. Food wasprovided there, and evacuees, including Rita, also cooked together. There was norunning water at the center, so men brought back “black water” from somewhere toflush the toilets. Unfortunately, Rita was on her period at that time. She
substituted adult diapers for sanitary napkins, and used the “black water” to washherself first, and then rinsed with drinking water. Although her coworkers offered
to take them to an onsen (public bath), she did not want to wait for hours in line,
and was too worried about the possibility of another big earthquake while in thebath, so she did not take a bath for two weeks. For the first few days she wasunable to even wash her face before going to work.
All evacuees at the center slept side by side in a large room together. They set
futons in two rows, with one side for females and another for males. There was noprivacy at the center. Even going inside her apartment to get necessities was scaryfor her, so she did not have enough clothing. She changed her underwear in the
restroom every day, but other clothes only every three days. She became sick aweek after the earthquakes, with severe pain in her stomach, constant diarrhea,
and vomiting. Eventually, she had to be hospitalized. She thinks that the constantfear of another large earthquake and the unsanitary conditions were the cause.
Rita was in the community center until it was closed as a shelter. When she
went back to her apartment, electricity was already restored but all of the lights in
the rooms were broken, so it was dark inside. Since water had not yet resumed, she
ate at work or used a food service provided at the restaurant on the first floor. Theapartment building had some damage and inside her apartment was extremely
disordered due to the earthquakes, but not knowing that some volunteer services
were available she cleared everything up by herself.
Support During the Evacuation
Rita is thankful for her work, the community center, and the people who were
there. She says that being able to continue to work even after the earthquakes was
financially very helpful. Having her co-workers was also a big source of emotional
support for her. She was also thankful for her employer understanding her
situation and allowing her to bring her child to the workplace for roughly a monthwhile the preschool was closed following the first earthquake.
Rita also felt at ease at the community center as a minsei-iin (district welfarecommissioner) was present, as well as her neighbors whom she was alreadyfamiliar. Other mothers at the center brought some materials for the children toplay with, such as coloring sheets and origami paper, so Rita’s child seemed toenjoy her time with the other children. Rita was also thankful to be provided withfood preferentially since she had a child.
Although Rita had a hard time after the earthquakes, she received a lot of
help from many people. As a result, she thinks it was a positive experience. Shesays that now she likes Japan much better than before. “I feel secure because I
know I can ask people around me and a group like Kumustaka for help even if I
have some problems,” says Rita.
Current Concerns
While she feels secure, Rita thinks she does not have a good enoughunderstanding of Japanese language and culture. She has heard about earthquake
relief assistance before, but she does not know the details. She did not know about
getting a risai-shomei’ (destruction certificate) until interviewed, although she hadheard the words, hankai (half destroyed) and zenkai (totally destroyed) before.
FutureSince Rita has received help from many people after the Kumamoto
Earthquakes, she hopes to study so that she could help people in return. She hasheard about a seminar to earn a rescue certificate at the city hall, and is thinking
about taking it. Also, she would like to raise her child to become a responsible andindependent adult, and would like to send her to college if possible.

Challenges and Suggestions
The 2016 Kumamoto Earthquakes have negatively affected the lives of immigrant
single mothers and their families, who were already struggling in their everyday lives
prior to the earthquakes. The disaster affected a wide portion of Kumamoto Prefecture,and has negatively impacted economic activities. With irregular employment status andno compensation, many immigrant single mothers lost their income or saw their incomesdecreased. Some of them were at work, apart from their children, when the earthquakes
hit. What the earthquakes triggered in them was not only the fear of the earthquakes
itself, but also intense anxiety at being apart from their children. Because of the nonstop
aftershocks following the two main earthquakes, most women could not leave theirchildren alone to go to work, and lacked family or friends to babysit for them. They had
to take leave of absences even after their work started again, which meant that theyearned no income, pushing them into more difficult financial situations.
Emotional distress suffered by children was another issue for the immigrant single
mothers. According to survey data on the emotional effects of the earthquakes on schoolaged children conducted by the Kumamoto Prefecture Board of Education, 4,277 out of
170,000 elementary and junior high students in the prefecture were considered to be inneed of counseling (May 31, 2006. “4000 students need counselling.” Nihon Keizai

Shinbun Seibuban). Also, in our research, more than half of the women interviewed
reported that their children became emotionally unstable, or reported evidence of
behavioral changes to some degree after the earthquakes. For those children who
experienced the earthquakes while their mothers were away, the fear and distress theyfelt must have been severe. It is possible that these children may not have received
proper emotional care, especially without the support of any other adult or agency, as
earthquake-related information, including mental care and other support services, wasrarely accessed by their mothers.
Unfortunately, information in languages other than Japanese or in “easy Japanese”
for those with limited Japanese language skills is very limited in Kumamoto.
Information in languages other than Japanese was found almost nowhere for some time
following the earthquakes. Websites administered by the Prefecture and Kumamoto City
have been equipped with the automatic translation systems for translation into English,
Chinese, and Korean. However, there was no additional effort by the Prefecture or theCity during the disaster, even though they had multilingual staff members who could
have released information in other languages or supported immigrants and foreignnationals in other ways. The only thing they did was to post an announcement
concerning fund-raising initiatives for victims of the Kumamoto Earthquakes on theirwebsites. The Kumamoto City International Foundation (KIF) provides information in
English, Chinese, and Korean on a regular basis. However, they were over-taxed withthe running of a shelter for foreigners, and it was not until April 23 that they were able
to launch the disaster multilingual support center and begin releasing multilingual
information. Kumamoto City has been periodically publishing regular information
classified as “Kumamoto Earthquake Victim Life Support Information” since theearthquakes. Its July 2016 issue was titled “Earthquake Victim Life Support
Guidebook,” and printed in English, Chinese, and Korean. However, the city hasn’t
published in a language other than Japanese since then. The majority of immigrant
single mothers in this research are able to have conversations in Japanese without
significant difficulties, but reading and writing Japanese appeared to be a problem for
most. Thus, they obtained minimal earthquake-related information released by the
public agencies directly.
If a person was born and raised in Japan, they would have been more likely to havesome experience of actual earthquakes or to have received disaster education, and might
have had some idea of what to do to in case of disaster. However, quite a few single
mothers born and raised in other countries had neither experience nor education
regarding earthquakes. Due to the differences in experience and knowledge, and due tothe shortage of understandable information, they did not know what to do or where to go
to seek protection for themselves and their children. Additionally, quite a few immigrant
single mothers did not know about the application process or other detailed information
regarding earthquake relief programs. At the time of our interviews, some did not evenknow of their existence. They could not apply for the relief programs since they did notknow about them. Even in cases where they did know, language, cultural, and/or social
barriers prevented them from applying. Our organization is very concerned about thesingle mothers and their children who have been negatively affected by the earthquakes,
and who were unequally excluded from the care and support that they should havereceived as victims of the earthquakes. This lack of support could result in additional
financial difficulties and worsened mental and emotional states.
The challenges and issues faced by immigrant single mothers, exacerbated by theearthquakes, have in actuality existed even long before them. Immigrant single mothers
have gone through marriage, immigration, and divorce, but then decided to live in Japanas single mothers for the future of their children. However, living in Japan as an
immigrant single mother is far from easy.
One major challenge is employment. Immigrant single mothers have limited job
opportunities, often possess limited Japanese language skills, struggle with working
environments that operate with different qualification/certificate systems than theirhome countries, and face prejudice from employers and society, in addition to restrictions
on time and employment stemming from raising a child. With barriers as single mothers,
as well as immigrants, most immigrant single mothers struggle with unstable,
temporary, or part-time jobs as irregular employees. Many of the women we interviewed
struggle to make ends meet every month with a combination of earned income, jido teate(child allowance), and jido fuyo teate (child support allowance) since their work is often
for low wages with short hours, and they have to take leave of absences when theirchildren become sick. Having more than one job is not uncommon among single mothers,
especially after their child reaches school age, after which child-related expenses
increase. Income from a single job is often insufficient. Even though they keep working
without adequate rest, their lives can be still financially difficult. Being busy with workand raising a child, the health condition of some mothers deteriorates. However, theycannot afford to take time off due to sickness because they have to take care of theirchildren, and if they take sick leave their income as irregular employees decreases. Ifthey have family nearby, they might be able to ask for help with babysitting or for
financial support. However, not many immigrant women have their family in thiscountry. According to 2016 statistics from the Ministry of Health and Labor, 50.8% of
single-parent households in Japan are in poverty. According to this research, however,the poverty rate among immigrant single mothers appears to be higher than thisnumber.
Fathers were another factor contributing to the poverty among immigrant single
mothers. Not only were they absent, but they also often avoided parental responsibilities
and obligations, which the social system tacitly allows. Fathers live apart from theirchildren for various reasons, but very few of them take responsibility for their own
children as a father after separations or divorce. Only five research participants reported
receiving child support from the father of their child, and another five had only sporadic
financial support, such as the father paying for the child’s cram school or paying somemoney when the family was short. Although a child is born the product of both a woman
and a man, it is sadly all too often that the man abandons his parental responsibilities,
pushing all parental obligations to the woman after separation. This is not simply anissue of individual Japanese males who evade parental obligation, but also a greater
issue involving the Japanese social structure, which tolerates such irresponsibility.
Another challenge that immigrant single mothers face is parenting. The stress ofraising a child while struggling with an unfamiliar language and culture in a strange
society, often without any family support, is unimaginable. Quite a few women either
work more than one job or work at night for higher wages to raise their children, andmost of them feel that they are not spending enough time with their children and feelsorry for making them feel lonely. Some immigrant women have their children stay with
their family in their home country until the children reach to certain age, then bringthem to Japan to live together. Once they come to Japan, some of these children struggleat school with studying and communicating in an unfamiliar language, and faceprejudice and bullying, which can trigger truancy and juvenile delinquency. In somecases, discord between the mother and the child emerges due to having been separated
for a long time. Without any intervention, poverty can be passed down to the next
generation for such immigrant families.
Kumamoto Prefecture, as well as Kumamoto City, has developed the “Children andChild Rearing Support Plan,” and provides a wide range of support services for families
with children to promote child rearing. However, these services have hardly reachedimmigrant single mother families. Similar to earthquake relief assistances, theinformation has not been effectively disseminated to immigrant women, and the support
programs do not seem to be user-friendly for immigrant women. Current employment
support services do not specifically meet the needs of immigrant single mothers due tolanguage barriers. According to the Child Support Department of Kumamoto City, in thepast three years no immigrant woman has used the Single Parent Employment Support
Program or the Educational Subsidy Program for Single Mothers. Child rearing support
programs also appear to not be easily accessible, not only for immigrant single mothers,
but also for Japanese single mothers as well, due to inflexible application procedures andlimited office hours. The author of this report has also encountered inconsiderate
program personnel quite a few times while accompanying immigrant single mothers to
the program office. Staff members displayed an unwillingness to provide immigrants
with services, and seemed to do so only grudgingly, caring little for the applicants’predicament as single mothers. As a result, many immigrant single mothers are
reluctant to use public support services, and must survive on their own by making fulluse of their own personal networks.

Immigrant single mothers and their children are members of Kumamoto society,and many were victims of the Kumamoto Earthquakes the same as Japanese residents.
As fellow members of society and fellow victims, support services and necessary
information should be equally offered and provided to them as well. In order to do so,
public agencies should take responsibility to provide and release accurate information,
not only in standard Japanese, but also in easy Japanese and other languages for those
who have limited Japanese language skills. It is also necessary for supporting agencies
to create a friendly environment for immigrant single mothers to access services.
Application processes for earthquake relief assistance programs are overly-complicated,even for Japanese. Eligibility requirements are rigid, procedures inflexible, and it isoften unclear what application is required, where to apply, and who is in charge. In order
for an immigrant single mother to receive sufficient assistance, accompanying andsupporting them with each step of the application process, such as understanding her
situation, explaining the situation at a certain office, and acquiring necessary forms anddocuments, is necessary. Similarly, support program personnel should have a better
understanding of the challenges that immigrants often face, and should be supportive ofthem as fellow members of the community, and should be able to provide proper,
sufficient services when immigrants come for help.
Moreover, it is necessary for support agencies to develop and maintain a regularand trusting relationship with immigrant single mothers. Even though it was limited,
KIF, Osaka University’s Doctoral Program for Multicultural Innovation, and Kumustaka
have been providing Kumamoto Earthquake-related information in multiple languages
and easy Japanese. However, almost no immigrant single mothers accessed theinformation provided by these services. Their major source of information was not public
or private institutions, but those people whom they have personal relationships, such as
friends or co-workers. They also utilized their personal networks to access food, water,and other relief supplies and assistance after the earthquakes. Therefore, by sending out
multilingual information constantly on a regular basis, non-Japanese, including
immigrant single mothers, would know where to access necessary information.
Supporting organizations should also establish good relationships with immigrant single
mothers by providing adequate support on regular basis. Utilizing these relationships,
necessary information would be able to be effectively spread in times of disaster, andrelief and other support services could be accessed by them in case of another emergency.
The lives of immigrant single mothers have become much harder since theKumamoto Earthquakes, but the hardships are rooted in issues they have been facing
even prior to this particular disaster. In order to support immigrant single mothersaffected by the Kumamoto Earthquakes, we must work on issues they face in theireveryday lives, and strive to improve their living conditions.

Multiculturalism During a Disaster
The Kumamoto Earthquakes and Kumustaka’s
Relief Activities for Immigrants and Foreign Nationals
Shinichiro Nakashima
Director of Kumustaka -Association for Living Together with Migrants
1. Starting from ZeroI never once thought that Kumamoto would be at the epicenter of a series of large
earthquakes, and as a result, neither as director of Kumastaka or in my personal life did
I set about to make any preparations for a potential disaster. Thus, when theearthquakes started there was no manual for us to follow, and we had to start from zero.
However, we were able to start taking action to aid immigrants and foreign nationals as
early as April 15, the day after the first shock. I believe we were able to take action rightaway because we had already established relationships with a number of immigrants
and foreign nationals, and could easily imagine the fear and anxiety that they must havefelt when the power, water, and gas were cut off, and when public transportation
stopped.
When thinking about what we as an organization could do, by chance I learned
online in the morning of April 15 that the Kumamoto City International Center (KCIC)
had opened itself as an evacuation shelter. I called a long-time friend of mine, Mr. Yagi,
the director of the center, to get approval for three things. To begin, I wanted to confirm
that KCIC would be a shelter for foreign residents and tourists. Second, I asked that oneof the telephone lines there would be designated specifically for foreigners, and available
in both English and Chinese. Finally, I wanted to make sure that we had the center’s
approval to disseminate this information via SNS. Approval for all three was granted,
and the information was sent out.
When the main earthquake hit, I was sleeping at home on the night of April 15,
after clearing up my office and house. I did not consider that another, much bigger,
earthquake might be coming, and was taken completely by surprise when it did. There
were many foreign and Japanese evacuees at the KCIC on April 16. In addition, allmembers of Kumustaka were affected by the earthquakes. Some of us evacuated outside
Kumamoto City, but some of us were able to immediately join in relief efforts. We
brought rice and some other food to the KCIC on the 16th, and quickly realized that relief
food would not be distributed to the KCIC because it was not an officially designatedshelter. However, evacuees themselves began to cook and distribute food outside thebuilding. On the 16th, I started sending out e-mails to people on Kumustaka’s mailinglists and other related people, asking for food and monetary donations for the food
distribution efforts, as well as to report on the earthquake damage. The following is thee-mail I sent.
To those concerned about the foreign victims of the Kumamoto Earthquake (I)April 16, 2016
Shinichiro Nakashima
Kumustaka –Association for Living Together with Migrants
We express our condolences to everyone who was affected by the
Kumamoto Earthquakes on April 14 and 16. We announced that the Kumamoto
City International Center has become an emergency shelter for foreigners on April
15. As of April 16, 8 p.m., there were about 60 evacuees, including Japanese andforeigners; however, the facility is not officially designated as a shelter. Although
it can serve as a temporary evacuation space and accommodation, there are nostocks of food or relief supplies. In cooperation with the staff of the center andvolunteers, evacuees are presently running a soup kitchen. However, there is notenough food available for all. If possible, please bring rice, vegetables, meat, andother food directly to Kumamoto City International Center (4-18 Hanabatacho,
Chuouku, Kumamoto City). We are afraid that the current evacuation situation will
last for a prolonged period. We would like to ask for contributions for victim relief
and food distribution. Since there is no time to make a new bank account, we will
use the same account as the one for set up for endowment and membership feesof Kumustaka. Please mention “For earthquake victim relief” in the message
column if you are able to send money.
Postal transfer account No. 01970-4-26534,
Account name Kumustaka
Since then, this e-mail has been forwarded across Japan to those who areinterested in immigrant and migrant issues, and who wished to support earthquake
victims. To date, we have received many contributions and much material relief.
2. Emergent Foreign National Victim Relief Activity

Kumustaka sent messages via e-mail and SNS to immigrants and foreign residents
whom we had previously established contact with to let them know that the Kumamoto

City International Center (KCIC) was open as an emergency shelter for foreigners, andwas able to provide multilingual telephone support. With help from translation
volunteers, we also began to release earthquake-related information on our website, notonly in English, Chinese, and Korean, but also in other languages, including Indonesian,Vietnamese, and Thai.
In addition to food provided by the city government, evacuees opened a soup
kitchen at an open site in front of the KCIC’s entrance on April 16 and 17 with supplies
brought by Kumustaka and other volunteers. Kumustaka took over the operation of thesoup kitchen on April 18, and provided hot meals until April 30th. We served roughly 100
meals per day during the first week, and 40 to 70 meals a day from the second week
until April 30.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Kumustaka’s Soup-Run Menu - April 18 to April 30*On April 16 and 17, evacuees made rice balls and miso soup.
Mon. 18th vegetable curry and rice
Tues. 19th dumpling soup, boiled eggs, and rice balls
Wed. 20th Chinese food cooked by technical interns from China:
two dishes of stir-fry (meat and eggplants, tomatoes and eggs), andfried rice and steamed rice
Thur. 21th chicken curry and toast
Fri. 22th

Filipino food: Chicken Adobo (chicken and vegetables), salad, anddessert*About 100 meals offered per day between 18th and 22th.

Sat. 23rdboiled gyoza, daikon salad, alpha rice

(We did not initially plan to cook on this day as high school students werescheduled to cook, however this failed to materialize and we wereforced to cook in a hurry)Sun. 24th Filipino food: Arroz Caldo (chicken porridge), Ginisang Labanos(sautéed daikon with chicken), and eggplants and tomatoes saladMon. 25th Filipino food: Chicken Adobo, Sopas (creamy chicken soup）
Tues. 26th Filipino food: Pancit Guisado (sautéed vermicelli with chicken andvegetable) and salad
Wed. 27th Filipino food: sautéed tomatoes with chicken and onions, salad
Thur. 28th chicken curry and rice, tuna salad

Fri. 29th

dry curry cooked by a Catholic church from Fukuoka

Sat. 30th

Yakiniku-Don（rice with barbecued beef and pork）(It was the last night at the center as it was scheduled to close thefollowing day, and the evacuees requested meat other than chicken.)-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------There were about 70 to 80 evacuees, including 30 to 40 foreigners and about 40
Japanese, in the KCIC immediately following the main earthquake. The nationalities ofthe evacuees were diverse, including citizens of Bangladesh, China, Korea, Malaysia, Sri
Lanka, Tanzania, The Philippines, and France. The status of their residence was also
diverse, including permanent residents, students, technical interns, and dependents ofJapanese nationals.
Right after the main earthquakes, the public transportation infrastructure,including the airport, freeways, and JR were shut, and Kumamoto became isolated.
People were very anxious without electricity, water, and gas. After one week, the public
transportation gradually began to be restored, and recovery of essential services
proceeded. Some evacuees moved outside Kumamoto Prefecture, some even outside
Japan, and some returned home from shelters. On April 22 and in the week that
followed, there were about 30 evacuees at the KCIC, including 15 to 20 foreigners andless than 20 Japanese. The shelter at the KCIC was initially only supposed to be open
until April 17, but was extended to the 20th, the 24th, and finally to the 30th. As part ofour relief efforts, Kumustaka provided consultations for immigrant families evacuated at
KCIC and in need of new places to live, and members of our organization accompanied
them to public offices in order to make preparations to move. We also made contact withindividuals who had asked Kumustaka for help in the past. The majority of these people
are socially vulnerable, even within the greater immigrant population. This group
included domestic abuse survivors, those living in poverty, and single mothers. We
wanted to check their safety and living conditions to make sure they were okay. We
provided them with advice and consultations for their work and living situations.
3. Kumustaka’s Medium to Long-Term Relief Efforts for Immigrants and Foreign

nationals
As April passed to May, Kumustaka shifted our relief efforts from emergency relief
to medium to long-term support. Our efforts have been generously supported bycontributions from people across Japan. The following are the details of our medium tolong-term relief efforts:

1. Multilingual earthquake-related information
We have been providing Kumamoto earthquake related information in ninelanguages on our website: easy Japanese, English, Chinese, Korean,
Vietnamese, Tagalog, Thai, Indonesian, and Nepalese.
http://kumustaka.weebly.com/

2. Emergency loans
We have been providing emergency loans to roughly 30 immigrant single
mothers who lost income or are in need of new places to live.

3. Assistance for independent living
After the Kumamoto Earthquakes, we engaged in numerous consultations
and had about 70 requests for support from domestic violence survivors andsingle mothers who were affected by the earthquakes.

4. Organizing events to raise awareness of immigrant disaster victims
1) Kumamoto Earthquake! Symposium on Relief Activities for Foreigners
Held at Kumamoto Kenmin Koryukan Parea (about 80 attendees) on July
3, 20162) Stop Domestic Violence: Symposium on Batterers’ Intervention
Held at Kumamoto Kenmin Koryukan Parea (about 50 attendees) on
October 23rd, 20163) Immigrants and Human Rights: Symposium on Immigration Policies inJapan and in America
Held at Kumamoto Kenmin Koryukan Parea (about 50 attendees) on
February 12nd, 2016

5. Interview research on immigrant single mothers affected by the Kumamoto
Earthquakes
Over a period of six months, we conducted research interviews with 30
immigrant single mothers (from July in 2016 to January in 2017) about theirdisaster experience and concerns, and published a report on July 9th, 2017.

6. Cooperation with other organizations
Kumustaka has joined Yokatai-net and Mirai-net to build collaborative
relations with other non-profit and non-governmental organizations.

7. Presenting the content of our relief efforts for immigrants during the Kumamoto
Earthquakes
We received requests from 15 organizations and institutions (including
universities both inside and outside Kumamoto, Filipino Association, Kumamoto
International Foundation, NPOs and NGOs outside Kumamoto, and local

governments), and presented our experiences of the Kumamoto Earthquakes, aswell as our organization’s subsequent relief efforts. We also were able to discuss
aspects related to multiculturalism during a disaster in lectures and panel
discussions.
4. One Year After the Kumamoto Earthquakes
A year and a few months have passed since the Kumamoto Earthquakes began in
April, 2016. The last shelter was closed on November 17, 2016, and all affected people
have returned home, moved elsewhere, or started living in temporary housing or quasitemporary housing (minashi-kasetsu). Infrastructure, such as roads and bridges has
been restored, and many houses and buildings have been demolished or repaired.
Bankruptcy rates of enterprises and the unemployment rate are currently not increasing
due to the heightened demands for reconstruction facilitated by governmental aid, thegroup subsidy program, and current labor shortages. Superficially, the recovery from the
Kumamoto Earthquakes appears to be rapidly moving forward. However, businesses
have been closing without a successor to continue them, and the number of businessmoving into the prefecture, as well as the number of tourists, has been in decline since
the earthquakes. Once the reconstruction demand abates, we expect the negative effectsof the earthquakes on the economy and industry of Kumamoto to become more
pronounced. The number of earthquake-related deaths has also increased because of thestresses caused by long-term evacuations. These deaths are really just the tip of theiceberg, as the impact of the fear and anxiety triggered by the earthquakes andprolonged temporary living situations could result in an increase in the number ofdeaths that will not be certified as “earthquake-related,” as well as in an increase insuicides, mental illness, domestic violence, and poverty.
While not directly caused by the earthquakes, we have had serious cases of suicide,attempted suicide, spousal disappearance, partner neglect, domestic violence, andpoverty from October of 2016, a full six months after the Kumamoto Earthquakes.
For over a year we have spent much time working with domestic violence victims,
poor, single mothers, and crime suspects, in addition to other immigrant victims of theearthquakes. Many individuals have come forward to ask for assistance in resolving
issues. We have been gratified to have played a role in the resolution of domestic
disputes, with some domestic violence survivors who were temporarily evacuees
expressing positive sentiments, such as “It was nice to have divorce with the abusive
husband finalized and an acceptable agreement made through mediation at court,” “I got

a driver’s license, found a job, and now I’m off welfare,” and “I’ve got a job and put mychild in preschool.” An immigrant victim of the earthquake, who was in prison at thetime, is now released and moving towards rehabilitation. There is also a single mother
whose child suffered from social withdrawal for years after being bullied. The childjoined group activities at the shelters, which acted as a positive experience for her.
Presently, the child has graduated high-school and is working. Having experienced the
Kumamoto Earthquakes, Kumustaka will continue to support and stay involved withimmigrants and foreign nationals.

Issues of and Suggestions for Multicultural Cooperation during a DisasterExamining the Experience of the Kumamoto Earthquakes
Shinichiro Nakashima
Director of Kumustaka -Association for Living Together with Migrants
1. Issues Concerning the Emergency Response by Governments During
and After the Kumamoto Earthquakes
After the Kumamoto Earthquakes, a shelter for foreigners provided by the
Kumamoto City International Foundation (KIF) was highly praised nationally andinternationally as an example of successful governmental emergency response. In
reality, the role of the government was minimal, and the success of this initiative wasdue to the KIF’s long-term efforts to promote multiculturalism, as well as its cooperative
work with non-government organizations.
According to the 2015 Regional Disaster Prevention Plan (RDPP), Kumamoto City
stated that it would open the Kumamoto City International Center (KCIC) as anevacuation facility particularly for foreign nationals in the case of a natural disaster.
However, the process and details of operating the facility, including who would takeresponsibility and who would operate what areas, were not at all clear. The facility was
originally planned to be a temporary shelter open only during the KCIC’s regular officehours, and no plan existed in which the KIF was directed to operate as a 24-hour shelter.
It was entirely an accident of chance that the center became a 24-hour shelter after the
April 16 main earthquake. Similar to many other shelters that were not officiallydesignated, crowds of people started coming into the center, leaving it with little choice
but to become a 24-hour shelter. By similar circumstances of chance, the KIF happened
to find itself in charge of the shelter and tasked with operating it without a manual.
Since the KIF’s staff members were busy operating the shelter, it was not until April 20,
after KIF had received help from other organizations in its network, that they began tovisit other designated shelters to check on the situation of non-Japanese. It was not until
April 23 that they started releasing earthquake-related information in multiple
languages.
The International Office of Kumamoto City did not participate in any disastermanagement meetings of Kumamoto City, and neither the international office nor KIF
even knew of its existence until the network organizations pointed out that they were
supposed to be provided with information at the meetings on April 20. Thus, considering
these circumstances, the 2015 RDPP was not concrete enough to provide multilingual
public information in the case of a disaster. As a result, immigrants and foreignnationals struggled to survive with access to only Japanese information for more than aweek after the earthquakes. At shelters, foreigners or other people with limited Japanese
language skills, were not specifically identified for additional care as “People Requiring
Assistance During a Disaster.” The following are issues and problems regarding the
emergency response by Kumamoto City towards immigrants and foreign nationals that
we have recognized:
1.

The city took more than a week to provide multilingual disaster-related
information.

2.

The city assumed a temporary shelter for foreigners to be opened only during the
KCIC’s office hours, but not for 24 hours.

3.

More and more shelters were additionally opened as time passed, and the periodsof operation of shelters were repeatedly extended without clear estimation of theneeds of evacuees or their potential length of evacuation.

4.

The city did not expect immigrants and foreign nationals among evacuees at each
designated district shelter and could not treat them properly.

5.

There was no clear understanding of who was to be in charge of supporting
immigrants and foreign nationals during a disaster, no specific manual for largescale disasters, and no dispatch of multilingual personnel or counselors from thecity government.

What lies behind these problems is a lack of imagination. Specifically, the city did
not expect a large-scale disaster such as the Kumamoto Earthquakes, and neverseriously considered the repercussions to non-Japanese in the local community.
Furthermore, the International Office of the city displayed no interest in supporting
foreign nationals at the time of disaster, evidenced by the fact that there was no policy inplace for immigrant or foreign-national disaster victims.
2. Suggestions for Improving Governmental Policy for Immigrants and Foreign Nationals.
1.

The responsible body for supporting immigrant and foreign national victims
needs to be clarified in the city’s RDPP, and such a body must take a leadershiprole in relief and assistance activities.

2.

Disaster-related information needs to be provided in multiple languages rightafter a disaster, not only for foreign tourists, but also for immigrants and foreign
residents.

3.

The establishment of 24-hour shelters for foreign nationals, which would alsofunction as an information center, needs to be stated in the city’s RDPP. If theKCIC becomes a designated shelter, its administrative organization should havethe capacity to support foreign nationals during a disaster, and the city should
grant the organization the authority and budget to operate the shelter andperform the duties mentioned above.
4.

The city needs to better inform non-Japanese of the existence of the information
centers, and should develop a collaborative network system with accommodation
facilities, such as hotels, universities, organizations tasked with supervising andimplementing the technical intern training programs.

5.

Each shelter needs to be aware of the existence of foreign nationals and otherpeople with limited Japanese language skills, and the process of identifying andregistering the needs of language support should be standardized.

6.

A search for immigrants and foreign nationals who are evacuating in cars or
outside of registered shelters needs to be conducted.

7.

The city needs to employ multi-language personnel to support immigrants andforeign nationals at the time of a disaster, and should provide specific training
for personnel in order to develop necessary skills.

8.

The city must develop collaborative and communicative relationships with theprefectural government, the Kumamoto Prefecture International Foundation,and other municipalities and international foundations in preparation for futuredisasters.

Kumamoto City needs to examine these issues and suggestions, and we believethat thorough reconsideration and significant revisions of the RDPP are needed. The
current government considers foreigners as visitors, and is focused only on how toincrease the economic benefit they bring to the country; however, the focus needs to be
shifted towards how to offer safety and relief for foreigners, including visitors andresidents.

Additional Note
The Revised Regional Disaster Prevention Plans (RDPP) of the Prefecture and the City
Kumamoto Prefecture and Kumamoto City revised their RDPP after the
Kumamoto Earthquakes in April 2016. The following are revisions in relation toforeigners.
1. Revision of the 2017 Kumamoto Prefecture Regional Disaster Prevention Plan
The prefectural government disclosed a revised 2017 RDPP on April 19, 2017 on its
website. The following are the new provisions concerning disaster relief for foreigners.

The prefecture shall constitute a Foreigner Assistance Team within the Disaster
Control Headquarter, collaborate with other municipalities to identify immigrants andforeign nationals, and provide assistance for them in shelters.
(General Disaster Control: chap. 3, sec. 1, old and new lists on pg. 3 to 8)
Tasks of the Foreigner Assistance Team (International Office)(chapter 3, section 1, old and new lists on page 3 to 8)
1. Tasks related to identifying foreigner victims (e.g. nationalities, sex, thenumber) and their evacuation situations.
2. Tasks related to supporting foreigners in shelters
3. Tasks related to providing multilingual information on the prefectural andother websites.
4. Tasks related to contacting embassies and consular offices, and assisting
non-Japanese in returning to their country.

Comments (Nakashima)
Municipal governments in Kumamoto Prefecture, excepting Kumamoto City, haveprovided minimal assistance to immigrants and foreign nationals affected by the
Kumamoto Earthquakes. Thus, it is meaningful that the Foreigner Assistance Team has
been newly constituted in the Disaster Control Headquarters, and that their four tasks
are clearly stated in the revised plan. The prefecture seems to have reviewed its work on
immigrants and foreign residents during the Kumamoto Earthquakes, and recognized
the issues that we have pointed out, making some revisions in accordance with them.
However, there is only one staff member in charge of promoting multicultural harmony
within the International Office, in which the Foreigner Assistance Team would be set up,
even though the office is now expanded to five sections with more than twenty personnel.

It would seem impossible for one person to carry out the four stated tasks in the case ofanother large-scale disaster. Speaking frankly, all personnel in the office, including
contract workers, would need to be engaged. Without more specific guidelines for thetasks, including how to deploy necessary staff and pay necessary costs, the revised plan
will not be carried out.
2. Revision of the 2017 Kumamoto City Regional Disaster Prevention Plan
The following are excerpts from the plan.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Measures for foreign nationals
Foreigners could be vulnerable to disasters with the possibility of not being able totake proper evacuative actions without understanding early warning and evacuation
information due to the differences in language, culture, and lifestyle. Therefore, regulardisaster management is necessary.
(1) Providing information for foreigners
The Kumamoto City International Center (KCIC) shall provide information forforeigners on a regular basis by placing a multilingual support desk, while the city offersinterpretation and other support to make public services accessible for foreigners. The
designated administrator of the KCIC shall translate health and livelihood-related
information from Shisei-dayoris (newsletter) and other necessary information into
English, Chinese, and Korean, and post it on its website. It also shall send out urgent
information concerning warning levels to foreigners registered in the multilingual disasterprevention mailing system. The city shall also develop disaster prevention cards in
multiple languages and distribute them among foreigners.
(2) Collaboration with related bodies
To prepare for a disaster, the KCIC’s designated administrator, the Prefecture andother municipality governments, universities, nongovernment organizations, ethnic
communities, and residents’ associations, shall collaboratively bring awareness of
disaster prevention, as well as create an environment in which foreigners can actively
attend local events, such as disaster prevention training. In the case of sick andwounded persons, the city shall identify medical institutions that provide service inforeign languages, and shall develop a collaborative relationship with medical
institutions. The city shall promote the creation of an environment for locals andforeigners to have face-to-face relationships through offering Japanese language
lessons, including useful Japan vocabulary and phrases in the case of a disaster, so that
foreigners will not be isolated during a disaster.

(3) Countermeasures against large-scale disasters
When a large-scale disaster occurs, the division of disaster management in the
Bureau of Policy shall open an evacuation shelter for foreigners within the KCIC. Afterthe occurrence of a disaster, the city shall promptly gather information, translate into
other languages in collaboration with the KCIC’s designated administrator and related
institutions, and provide information for foreigners through the city’s website and SNS.
The city shall also establish a multilingual disaster support center to provide informationfrom the city and other institutions. In addition, the city shall identify conditions offoreigners through registering them at each shelter and gathering information from
related institutions. In order to identify instances of evacuees staying outdoors, SNSshall be utilized as an information tool. Each shelter shall also provide multilingual
information.
■ Support Facility for Foreign Evacuees:
Kumamoto International Center

4-18 Hanabatacho, Chuouku, Kumamoto City
phone# 096-359-2020--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Comments (Nakashima)
Kumamoto City called for public comments between April 8 and May 8, 2017,
concerning a draft of the 2015 RDPP, which was said to be “considerably revised” after
the Kumamoto Earthquakes, and the plan was finalized at its meeting on May 31. In thefirst draft, however, the sections outlining measures for foreigners and tourists during adisaster were not revised at all. Having received and responded to citizen comments on
the treatment of foreign nationals, the city made wide revisions and gave supplementary
explanations. It was surprising that the foreign-national-related sections in the firstdraft were exactly the same as the plan prior to the Kumamoto Earthquakes. However, it
is impressive that the city made such significant revisions based on the publiccomments. That said, it has become clear that the International Office of the Bureau of
Policy has not attended either a disaster management meeting, or participated indeveloping the RDPP even a year after the earthquakes. The city must grant theauthority and responsibility to the Bureau in order for them to provide support
assistance for foreign nationals at the time of a disaster, and staff it with eligible andmotivated personnel. Otherwise, the revised plan will be rendered as impractical as it
was during the Kumamoto Earthquakes.

Kumustaka -Association for Living Together with Migrants
Income and Expenditure Reportson the Kumamoto Earthquake Relief and Support Activities(April 15, 2016 - June 30, 2017)
1.

2.

Income¥16,890,000

Cash donations¥460,000

Donations by bank transfer¥16,430,000

Expenditure¥11,310,000

A) Emergency relief activities, e.g. soup-run¥100,000B) Emergency loans¥5,030,000

C) Disaster related multilingual information offering¥2,100,000D) Interview Research on 30 immigrant single mothers¥1,260,000

E) Independent living support and human right consultation ¥750,000

3.

F) Print expenses¥1,190,000G) Mailing expenses¥290,000H) Honorarium and travel allowance¥350,000I)

equipment expenses¥200,000J)

Administrative expenses¥40,000

Balance as of June 30th, 2017

¥5,580,000※ Remaining balance will be used as a long-term support fund for immigrants
and foreign nationals affected by the earthquakes, to be used to support
expenses for disaster-related multilingual information offerings, andemergency financial support.

Interview Research on Immigrant Single Mothers
Affected by the Kumamoto Earthquakes
Published on July 9, 2017

Kumustaka -Association for Living Together with Migrants
c/o Sudou Shinichirou Gyouseishoshi Office
2-14-402 Suizenji 3 Choume,
Chuou-Ku, Kumamoto City
Kumamoto, Japan 〒862-0950
TEL: 096-383-4136 FAX: 096-285-3411
E-mail: groupkumustaka@yahoo.co.jp