Disabled People Face Challenges after Kumamoto Quake

Kumamoto, Aug. 26 (Jiji Press)–Evacuee life poses various challenges for those with disabilities, the elderly and other vulnerable people following last month’s massive earthquake that struck the southwestern Japan prefecture of Kumamoto. Local authorities face problems assessing the living situation of home evacuees. “Special consideration is necessary, given the difficulties of information…reaching home evacuees,” a social worker said. Keisuke Wakiyama, a 49-year-old evacuee with hearing loss living at an evacuation center in the city of Kumamoto, said he initially went without food because he was unaware that disaster relief goods were being handed out. While information is currently posted on a bulletin board, many announcements are still made verbally, and not in written form. Wakiyama said, “I find the lack of a sign language interpreter is inconvenient.” Disaster welfare assistance teams, or DWATs, have been providing support in the affected areas since the day after the temblor, working to identify those who require special care and improve evacuation shelters’ environment. They have interviewed residents about their living conditions and directed them to welfare shelters in the cities of Uki and Yatsushiro and the town of Hikawa, municipalities hit hard by the earthquake. Fifty-eight people from five cities and towns had been at welfare shelters as of 2 p.m. Tuesday, according to the Kumamoto prefectural government. Kunihiro Kuroki, a professor at Kumamoto Gakuen University in the city of Kumamoto who advises the prefectural DWAT, said that many people chose to return home rather than continue to stay at designated evacuation shelters due to a lack of information and consideration during past disasters, including the massive twin earthquakes that struck the prefecture 10 years ago. This time, a survey covering those at evacuation centers who require special care has been completed. Assessments for home evacuees and those living in their own vehicles are still incomplete, however. Some nursing homes serving as evacuation shelters have accepted people requiring special care. “This is something that the government can’t keep track of,” Kuroki said. “We’ll support people with disabilities while they are still living at evacuation centers, with an eye toward a path for rebuilding their lives.” The Kumamoto Disability Forum, a group of welfare organizations in the prefecture, has opened a center for disaster-affected people with disabilities in Yatsushiro. On Aug. 18, the center started offering consultations for various support services, including nighttime meals, bathing assistance, provision of relief goods and furniture disposal. An official at the center said, “While people with disabilities have the same aid-related needs as those without disabilities right after a disaster, we hope they use our services as issues specific to such people will emerge down the line.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]