Chapter III

Contribution－165－The six years since the Great East Japan
Earthquake
Kunimidai Hospital, Peaceful Mind Association, Miyagi (General Incorporated Foundation)
Iwadate Toshiharu, Hospital Director

This is a personal topic, but I am an earthquake man. The first disaster I experienced was theChilean Earthquake and Tsunami when I was in second grade (1960). My father woke me before
dawn, packed up my belongings in a school bag, and said that we needed to evacuate to the homeof some relatives. While rubbing our sleepy eyes, and still not really knowing what was happening,
my two siblings and I watched the sun rise as we walked three kilometers to our relatives’ house.
My parents and the other adults who arrived later listened to the radio with a serious expression.
That evening we went home, after being told that it was okay. The next day my mother took me tothe harbor, and I was told that the tsunami came inland as far as two or three hundred meters fromour house. Although I did not know much about tsunamis, as we approached the harbor I wasastonished by its destructive power. Fishing boats and dog houses were on rooftops, and therailroad tracks floated in midair. The concrete of the wharf had crumbled and the waves werewashing over the exposed rebar. Some people were sunning tatami mats here and there beside theroad and sprinkling the now-banned insecticide DDT over them.
My mother said they were doing that because the mats had been contaminated with raw sewage. I
thought that I would never see such a sight again in my life. The next disaster happened when I wasin my first year of high school, the Tokachi Earthquake (1968). I was in geography class on thefirst floor of a two-story wooden school building. Because the tremor was so intense, I thought fora moment that the ceiling might collapse. As I looked up, glittering dust was falling from theceiling.
I heard confused footsteps from upstairs as people tried to escape, but the teacher firmly
instructed us not to move. After the shaking stopped, the teacher resumed class as if nothing had
happened, but suddenly she said, “I wonder if there were landslides.” It was just after a long periodof rainy weather. Eventually all the students were assembled in the gathered in the courtyard andtold to go home for the day. I boarded a temporary municipal bus, but the asphalt cracked andsmoke began to rise in the central part of the city.
The third time was the offshore earthquake in Miyagi Prefecture (1978), when I was in my firstyear of my psychiatry residency. I was among the new doctors who were attending a lecture at thattime. A female colleague of mine screamed and tried to escape, but the professor strongly
restrained her. Fortunately, there was no serious damage to the building, but the elevator did notwork, and we had a hard time going back and forth between the 9th floor ward and the 7th floor
medical office. The electricity was working but the gas did not get repaired for a while and we
cooked on hot plates for some time.
The fourth time was an earthquake in northern Miyagi Prefecture (2003). As I was serving as a
medical instructor at Kurihara Public Health Center, I toured the evacuation shelter with two－167－medical interns at our hospital. I remember clearly how the interns, who were normallyexpressionless, said that they were deeply moved by the experience.
The fifth time was this one, the Great East Japan Earthquake (2011). I was at a private hospital;
the Keiai Hospital in Ishinomaki, Karuigaoka Recreation Park in Kesennuma, and Minamihama
Central Hospital in Iwanuma all suffered major damage. Damage to our hospital was minor
compared to these institutions, but we had hospitalized patients to care for. Problems were pilingup, such as how to keep them safe, provide meals, and ensure that staff would be present in theabsence of gasoline. I knew that I had to take action and do something on my own.
When the situation at the hospital was under control, we wanted to help others, so we offered toassist Professor Hayashi and our team decided to go to the Rokugo District. But the hour wasalready late and we did not have much to do. As I was listening to the stories of the victims, I had
the mysterious feeling that we supporters were receiving a kind of inner guidance. I realized that
our work was not on the front lines, but to provide support to those who had been injured on thefront lines.
Now the Miyagi Disaster Mental Health Care Center is working hard on the front lines. Although
our assistance will continue, I think that supporters themselves are paying attention to mental
health and want to bring mental health to the affected areas.

－168－