When a disaster occurs, knowing the locations where evacuees have taken refuge and their situations is the foundation for policy efforts to provide effective and well-tailored support.
Means and systems for gathering information about evacuees during disasters should be carefully planned and prepared during normal times.
Following the massive earthquake that struck the Noto Peninsula on Jan. 1, the government of Ishikawa Prefecture, where the peninsular is located, is scrambling to create a database of evacuees in the six hardest-hit municipalities.
These severely affected areas include the cities and towns in the Okunoto region, the deeply rural northernmost part of the landform extending into the Sea of Japan.
The goal of the database project is to provide the municipalities with information about the situations and conditions of people who have taken refuge not only in their homes but also in nearby community centers, schools, distant inns and relatives' houses.
With the cooperation of the Digital Agency and private-sector organizations and companies, an online system has been set up, and about half of the more than 120,000 residents in the six municipalities had been registered by late March.
In addition to inputting lists from various evacuation centers, the prefectural administration has encouraged evacuees and local residents to register with the database directly via the Line micro-messaging application and phone.
The local government has also added data submitted by residents to municipalities for the issuance of disaster victim certificates and the receipt of donations.
A system has also been introduced to efficiently confirm the safety of evacuees by using prepaid, rechargeable smart cards used for electronic payment in public transportation systems.
The prefecture has distributed such cards to evacuees and asked them to tap the card on readers each time they receive relief supplies or use bathing and other services.
Nationally, a "national evacuee information system" was launched after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. If evacuees inform the municipality of their circumstances in taking shelter, various pieces of information can be sent to them from the municipality they formerly resided in.
This time, as the number of evacuees was not as high as during the 2011 earthquake that triggered a huge tsunami and devastated wide areas in the northeastern Tohoku region, new methods for gathering and using data have been devised.
While ensuring that personal information is not used against evacuees' wishes, the local government should continue to explore new ways to track down and support evacuees and survivors.
It is also vital to use the proactive “push-type” approach of offering assistance directly to disaster victims, rather than waiting for them to request help, particularly for individuals who may be unable to actively seek assistance due to age, disability, injury or other vulnerabilities.
The Ishikawa prefectural government is also involved in a program based on visits to evacuees and survivors for individual interviews to assess their living conditions and health situations.
This program mainly targets elderly people living at home. Through this program, the administration collected data from about 5,000 people in February and March.
The operations of the program have been outsourced to groups of nursing care professionals and nonprofit organizations based in Osaka, Sendai and Okayama that have been involved in visitation surveys during disasters.
The Ishikawa prefectural government plans to continue expanding the visitation destinations.
Needless to say, collecting data is not the goal; the question is what kind of support will be provided based on it.
The visitation survey for needs assessment can be considered an act that connects data to actual support activities.
Although the prefecture’s visitation program is being conducted with financial support from the national government, in some areas, volunteer organizations are independently collecting requests from disaster victims.
The disaster aid and relief network should be expanded to effectively utilize information gathered by volunteers as well.
Efforts to provide support tailored to the specific needs of each disaster victim through cooperation between public- and private-sector organizations are called "disaster case management."
This specialized service, which helps disaster survivors navigate the complex process of recovery, should be steadily expanded and upgraded through measures such as the development of disaster victim databases.
--The Asahi Shimbun, April 11
EDITORIAL: Disaster victim database would bolster response and relief efforts
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11.04.2024
When a disaster occurs, knowing the locations where evacuees have taken refuge and their situations is the foundation for policy efforts to provide effective and well-tailored support.
Means and systems for gathering information about evacuees during disasters should be carefully planned and prepared during normal times.
Following the massive earthquake that struck the Noto Peninsula on Jan. 1, the government of Ishikawa Prefecture, where the peninsular is located, is scrambling to create a database of evacuees in the six hardest-hit municipalities.
These severely affected areas include the cities and towns in the Okunoto region, the deeply rural northernmost part of the landform extending into the Sea of Japan.
The goal of the database project is to provide the municipalities with information about the situations and conditions of people who have taken refuge not only in their homes but also in nearby community centers, schools, distant inns and relatives' houses.
With the cooperation of the Digital Agency and private-sector organizations and companies, an online system has been set up, and about half of the more than 120,000 residents in the........
© The Asahi Shimbun
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