Shigeo Tatsuki

Life Recovery of 1995 Kobe Earthquake Survivors in Nishinomiya City: A Total-Quality-Management-Based Assessment of Disadvantaged Populations

The main objectives of this study were (1) to examine what has beenrecovered and what has not yet been recovered in Nishinomiya City five years after the GreatHanshin-Awaji Earthquake, and (2) to find current service needs for the earthquake survivors,especially for the disadvantaged populations. Disadvantaged populations are minorities in society, andtheir needs and opinions are often ignored and not reflected in the services or mitigation policy,despite the fact that they are the ones who are affected most by various hazards. At the same time, becauseof their unique characteristics and positions in society, their needs differ from the majorityof the society. Six hundred eighty-six opinion cards were collected in nine grassroots workshopsessions with various disadvantaged groups in Nishinomiya City, such as the physically challenged,the visually impaired, the elderly living in public housing, junior and senior high school students,mothers with small children, and those who lost their own homes because of the earthquake. Theseopinion cards were sorted out and analyzed by using a TQM(Total Quality Management)-basedassessment method. Since the TQM-based assessment method allows bottom-up integration ofopinions from each individual, it helps us identify unique needs of the disadvantaged groupsand reflect their opinions in mitigation plan and policies. The main findings of this study include (1)the city redevelopment cannot be achieved without integrating the viewpoints of thedisadvantaged; (2) the social support was a key resource for both mental health and community development;and (3) disaster experiences and adaptation produced civic mindedness among people in a community.

Old Age, Disability, and the Tohoku-Oki Earthquake

Since the Evacuation/Sheltering Guideline was first published in March 2005, Japan has been a leader in systematically promoting evacuation and shelter assistance initiatives for people with special needs (PSND) in times of disasters. Despite the nationwide, community-based initiatives prescribed by the Guideline, this paper first addresses the issue of evacuation by examining mortality data of the total population, the elderly, and people with disabilities (PWD). The elderly and PWD mortality rates were not even across the three disaster-hit prefectures. Their institutionalization rate was suggested as one of the causative factors; more elderly and PWD died in Miyagi because more of them resided in their own homes, due to the prefectures socially inclusive normalization policy. A case study of Miyagis Hachiman community responses to its 17 registered PSND illustrated the ways to overcome the issue of mainstreaming preparedness components in the everyday practice of social inclusion for the elderly and PWD.