July 2020 Heavy Rain Disaster Area Survey

Yoko Saito
Senior Researcher and Associate Professor,
Institute of Disaster Area Revitalization, Regrowth and Governance,
Kwansei Gakuin University

Even as the COVID-19 outbreak spread, warm and humid air continued to flow into
western and eastern Japan from July 3 to July 31 due to the stagnant weather front, causing
heavy rains. Kyushu in particular was hit with record-setting heavy rains from the 4th to the7th. These heavy rains caused floods in Kuma River and Chikugo River. Kochi, Nagano, andGifu Prefectures were among some of the areas throughout Japan that suffered flooding,landslides, and lowland inundation.
In Kumamoto Prefecture in particular, 65 lives were lost, and two people are still missing(as of October 2020). According to the Kumamoto Prefectural Government, 8,881 residentialbuildings were damaged, forcing victims to live in evacuation shelters, temporary housing,publicly funded post-disaster rental accommodations, and home shelters.
On October 19 and 20, the Shafuku Saigai Student Volunteer Group from Kumamoto
Gakuen University accompanied us during our visit to Hitoyoshi City and Kuma Village inKumamoto. The Shafuku Saigai Student Volunteer Group was comprised primarily ofstudents from Hitoyoshi who began supporting activities immediately following the disaster.
From the beginning, they had been involved in shoveling mud left by the rain, delivering
ready-made vegetable soup to victims in their homes, and enquiring about their currentconditions. The group currently continues to give support to home evacuees, while also

© 2020 Institute of Disaster Area Revitalization, Regrowth and Governance, Kwansei Gakuin Universityinterviewing seniors in newly established temporary
housing and running the Aozora Tea Meetup onsite. Representative volunteer Shota Yamakita
explains that there are not only fewer regularvolunteers compared to the time following theKumamoto earthquake, but also fewer student
volunteers. Since students have seen a sharp drop in
their income from part-time work due to COVID19, the issue is that they cannot afford to participate
in volunteer activities. Therefore, if students wish to▲The Aozora Tea Meetup on site (takenvolunteer, this volunteer group supports theon October 20, 2020)

students by using donations and subsidies to pay forlunch and purchase essential materials such as rubber boots, securing volunteer participation
by reducing the burden on students. They set up a tent in a corner of the temporary housing
area, and when the students went around approaching residents about having a tea meetup,
the residents gradually started to come out. They got to know each other by talking about
where they had lived before and sharing stories about their experiences in a flood 50 years
ago. One resident cooked deer meat and brought it to the meetup for tasting. The resident
said, “The pressure cooker I used to have was swept away in the flood. It would have beeneasier to make this stew if I had had that.” To this another victim said, “When I was cleaning
up things from the flood, I even threw out things that hadnʼt been submerged in water,
thinking I didnʼt need any of it, but now I often think about things I shouldʼve kept.” I haveheard similar conversations in other disaster-stricken areas in the past. In the chaos that
immediately follow a disaster, people start with a mind to clean up as quickly as possible andend up throwing everything away, but I imagine they might start to have these second
thoughts after they move into temporary housing and life calms down a bit.
Currently, there are often times when assembly areas made at the temporary housing
cannot be used in order to stop the spread of COVID-19. Hence, the tea meetups at thetemporary housing have become opportunities for residents to not only interact with young
students, but also get to know one another. Hideaki Takabayashi, a professor at the Facultyof Social Welfare who was in charge of the volunteer group, and volunteer leader Shota
Yamakita are both scheduled to attend our Revitalization and Disaster Reduction Forum inJanuary.
The next place we visited was the village of Kuma. The Konose district is very isolated from
Hitoyoshi, and it had been a community of 204 households before the disaster. However, mostvictims currently continue to live in an evacuation shelter at a closed school over an hour away,© 2020 Institute of Disaster Area Revitalization, Regrowth and Governance, Kwansei Gakuin University

and those who do not are living in othertemporary housing. Every Saturday, thedistrictʼs Recovery Committee holds ameeting,

which

began

whenarea

residents began to think about therevitalization of the area. I think that theopportunity for those who have returnedto the area and for victims currently
living in various accommodations, such

▲Affected houses along the Kuma River (photo taken

as evacuation shelters and temporaryon October 20, 2020)

housing, to think about the future of
their village together will be a big step toward revitalization.
While many volunteers and support groups hesitate to go to the sites due to COVID-19,
support groups and people with knowledge and expertise of previous disaster areas do enter
the sites albeit in small numbers and have been making real efforts together with local people.
COVID-19 should not mean that the lessons and wisdom cultivated in previous disaster areas
are not passed on to others; I profoundly felt the necessity of thinking about how to support
victims even with the COVID crisis and build systems of support.
November 2020

© 2020 Institute of Disaster Area Revitalization, Regrowth and Governance, Kwansei Gakuin University