Old Age, Disability, and the Tohoku-Oki Earthquake

Abstract

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 prefecture's socially inclusive normalization policy. A case study of Miyagi's 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.