The government plans to train volunteers specializing in disaster management who will help run evacuation sites in their local communities in the event of an emergency, starting next fiscal year.
The volunteers will be tasked with maintaining sanitary conditions and caring for people affected by a disaster at evacuation sites because local governments have difficulty securing the necessary manpower for such operations. The aim is to prevent deaths due to factors indirectly related to natural disasters, which are increasing in frequency recently.
The government also plans to build a database of such people, enabling the dispatch of volunteers to disaster areas elsewhere in the country when needed.
Many gymnasiums and other facilities utilized as evacuation sites after earthquakes and torrential rains are not equipped with air conditioners, which strains the health of evacuees.
Conditions conducive to poor hygiene have been pointed out, such as a large number of evacuees sleeping in one room with no partitions. A shortage of toilets is also a problem.
Additionally, food is sometimes limited to bento meals or precooked dishes that often do not provide a nutritionally balanced meal.
Evacuation sites are set up by the municipal governments of cities, towns and villages, but such tasks as cleaning the facilities are often done by the residents themselves.
Outside specialized volunteers or members of nonprofit organizations sometimes help manage evacuation facilities, but the number of sites receiving such assistance is limited.
To alleviate the situation, the government plans to train residents who would work as volunteers and improve the conditions at evacuation sites, easing the strain on evacuees.
Disaster response experts specializing in various fields will be lecturers, training three categories of volunteers: "leaders" who would be in charge of drawing up the rules for living at evacuation sites; "advisers" who would provide advice to evacuees; and "coordinators" who would coordinate views with experts in such fields as health care and welfare, and municipal governments to find solutions to problems that arise.
The government plans to draw up concrete training course programs within this fiscal year and begin enlisting volunteers to participate in the sessions starting next fiscal year.
Participants will be asked to take part in disaster drills held by municipalities in bid to build ties with local government officials.
About 80,000 evacuation sites exist nationwide, and developing a large number of specialized human resources is key to managing them successfully.
Deaths in natural disasters occur due to buildings collapsing, flooding and other conditions. Those deaths are differentiated from ones caused indirectly, such as people who die due to deteriorated health while staying at evacuation sites or inside their cars. Deaths caused by indirect factors are to be recognized by a special committee comprised of doctors and other experts in the local community.
Deaths attributed to indirect factors topped 3,700 after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. In the wake of the Kumamoto earthquake in 2016, such deaths tallied 221, accounting for 80% of the total.
"The viewpoints of women and disabled people need to be considered when managing evacuation sites," said the University of Hyogo's Prof. Mayumi Sakamoto, a member of the Cabinet Office study panel that proposed the program to train volunteers specializing in disaster management. "It's necessary to develop in advance as many human resources as possible in diverse fields who can deal with various problems that may arise at evacuation sites."
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