make a disaster manual for each facility, separate from that for the whole city and reflecting the problems described above.
(c) Efforts in the field of education
We cannot deny that the unprecedented scale of the disaster was a consequence, at least in part, of the poor preparations made because people believed that such a big earthquake could never happen in the Kansai district. But the response of each school in the prefecture after the earthquake was noteworthy. Especially at the schools that accepted refugees, many staff members devoted themselves to support and relief activities, and they were highly evaluated by many people in various fields.
Hyogo prefecture has forty-one schools and one branch school for children with visual disabilities,auditory disabilities, and other mental and physical disabilities. In the Hanshin district affected by the earthquake, there are three schools for children with visual disabilities, three for those with auditory disabilities, and fifteen schools and one branch school for children with other mental and physical disabilities. From these schools, five students, four family members of the students, one teacher, and seven family members of teachers died in the earthquake. Eight of the schools accepted refugees, and at the peak, the number of refugees was 3,340.
(1) Cooperation with the community
Ordinarily, schools for children with visual disabilities, auditory disabilities, and other mental and physical disabilities make an effort to promote the understanding of residents in the community toward children and adults with disabilities. But in this time of disaster, many of those affected were too busy taking care of their own situation, so that they were not able to think about others, especially people unable to survive in society on their own, including people with disabilities. Perhaps many people wanted to help but did not know how to do so, because the help needed differs according to the kind of disability.
(2) Psychological support
The disaster influenced even the minds of the children, and many children were considered to be suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome. Reports made included "a child who had not used to talk much became talkative because of anxiety," "a child who, after coming home from school, had talked a lot about activities during the day, became mute after the disaster," a child showed facial tension, stiffened the body, and gazed at the furniture and the ceiling whenever the house was shaken by a small vibration,"a student in junior high school who had slept alone could not sleep after the disaster unless the mother was grasping the child's hand every night," "maybe because of tension, the child stopped laughing,"became incontinent," "regression to baby-like behavior has been observed," and "starting thumb-sucking again". Each school held a seminar on the psychological support of children, and many teachers tried to listen to the children's problems and read their problems from their facial expression and behavior when the child could not talk about what the problem was. Although these problems seem now to have disappeared, they are not completely healed. There seems to be a danger that they may come back at any time.
(3) Opening community classrooms
In order to remove the anxieties of the students and help them live positively, schools should open again as soon as possible, because the schools were the only place where the students could feel at ease.In very large school districts, when students could not come to school because of the bad road conditions and interruption of transportation, one school for children with visual disabilities, one for children with auditory disabilities, and three for children with intellectual disabilities set up community classrooms and taught the children there. As a result of these efforts, the students' depressions were gradually healed,and they began to laugh again.
(4) Acceptance of refugees
Schools for children with visual disabilities, auditory disabilities, and other mental and physical disabilities seemed to be somewhat better shelters than others, not only for people with disabilities, but also for elderly and bedridden people. As many as 1,300 people took refuge in the Kobe city school for children with intellectual disabilities. This school had moved to new buildings less than a year before,and had prepared a comfortable environment and modern equipment for children with disabilities in every
