Shelter for Evacuees with Pets Set Up Soon after Kumamoto Quake

Kumamoto, Aug. 5 (Jiji Press)–A shelter accepting evacuees and their pets together was set up at a veterinarian school in the city of Kumamoto, southwestern Japan, immediately after last week’s massive earthquake. Kyushu Animal Academy made part of its facility available for evacuation to those affected by the July 28 disaster, which hit Kumamoto Prefecture and logged up to 7, the highest level on Japan’s seismic intensity scale. The shelter was opened within the day. People expressed gratitude to the school while the shelter already stopped accepting users due to the falling number of evacuees. In times of disaster, many people tend to give up on moving to shelters with their pets because of the animals’ noise and smell. The school opened an evacuation area for people with pets for the first time after a powerful earthquake hit the prefecture 10 years ago. It concluded an agreement with the Kumamoto city government on shelter operations in 2021. This time, 17 veterinarians took turns to respond to any changes in pets’ health conditions. Students of the school also participated in the activities on a voluntary basis. By Sunday, 83 people from 48 households had stayed at the shelter with their dogs, cats and rabbits. Hironori Honda, 61, from the Kumamoto prefectural capital, rushed to the facility with his wife and their 13-year-old cat, Mikan, on the night of the earthquake. The cat had some dehydration symptoms at the time but recovered after resting at the shelter. His house was not in a condition in which the family could stay due partly to broken furniture, while the shelter had cat litters and blankets. “We were so relieved because we were able to evacuate together,” Honda said. Tomoko Takaoka, 30, visited the shelter from the nearby city of Uki with her 7- and 8-year-old small dogs. She learned about the shelter, which had snacks for canines, on social media when she was staying in her car. “There isn’t a shelter like this around my house, so it helped us,” she said. “Pets are members of families,” Ryunosuke Tokuda, head of the vet school, said, pointing to the risk of heatstroke for pets in the event of disaster in summer. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]