(a) Committee for Support for People with Disabilities in Disasters -- the National Social Welfare Council
The National Social Welfare Council established a Committee for the Consideration of Support for People with Disabilities in Disasters to investigate the situation of people with disabilities as a result of the Great Hanshin Earthquake, and to do research and consider preparation for future disasters and how to support people with disabilities at the time of a disaster. The results were summarized in a report issued in March 1996.
The members of the Committee for Support for People with Disabilities in Disasters were people with disabilities themselves, their organizations, people concerned about health and welfare services, local administrators, and national administrators responsible for preventing disasters and providing social services. The study was conducted mainly by holding hearings in the stricken areas.
The report consists of three parts. The first chapter summarizes the problems of people with disabilities in a disaster, and what is needed to support them. The second chapter, taking into consideration the contents of Chapter 1, summarizes as recommendations key points for supporting people with disabilities in disasters, in order to compile a manual. Among the materials collected by the committee, some of those described as part of the chapter on materials are worthwhile for use as reference materials.
Describing the results of this research, the report emphasizes that having countermeasures for dealing with the effects of a disaster that are focused on people with various disabilities makes more specific countermeasures that are useful with all people, and that creating a community in which people with disabilities can participate in the same way as other people also means making the community strong against disasters.
The Council prepared its reports in two ways -- print and Braille -- and distributed them to various organizations such as the local social welfare councils in each prefecture, and disability-related organizations.
(b) Efforts in the field of child care
Although the Great Hanshin Earthquake, greater than any experienced before in Japan, caused unimaginably severe physical and personal damage, now, to some extent, the situation has settled down,as a result of support from all over Japan. Although the number of children who come to day care from the heavily stricken areas decreased because of the delay in rebuilding individual houses, the children themselves have been settling down to their usual lives. It seems that elderly people, sick people, and people living alone were more severely upset psychologically than the children who are coming to the facilities.
Reviewing the efforts that were made immediately after the disaster, the priorities at that time were to check the safety of the children and the staff members, to resume the day care activity of the facilities, and to secure the communication network. However, the actual situation that we faced in terms of interruption of and confusion about telephone service and transportation was very severe, and one could never be prepared enough by the usual drills for such disasters. Maintaining a large enough staff and rescue activities were very difficult, and we had to patiently endure the work and time lost. In these situations, while simultaneously preparing for reopening, we devoted ourselves to the establishment and management of an emergency care center for children and adults with disabilities who did not adapt to the shelters and other relief activities. A problem that made reopening more difficult was the lack of function of life lines such as the gas and water supply and sewage services. On the other hand, it was difficult for the families of the children to engage in their own restoration activities while at the same time caring for their children, so our urgent task was to meet their call for reopening and to pay attention to the voices of anxiety about aftershocks. Until the reopening, much time was needed to prepare the necessities of life,drinks, water for toilets, and alternatives for electric cooking equipment and gas fittings, as well as for restoration of the roads, meeting various needs, and repeated discussions about measures to counter the disaster.
Only after a year had passed and the restoration and relief activities settled down could we start to
