Hajime Kagiya
Professor, Atomi University

Introduction

In fiscal 2021, to protect persons with disabilities and others who require support during evacuations due to disasters (hereafter referred to as “persons needing support”), the government made major revisions of the system, such as making the Business Continuity Plan (BCP) mandatory for welfare institutions. One of the most important revisions is the requirement for the municipalities to make efforts to create an individual evacuation plan for persons needing support during evacuation.
The significance of this revision is not only to ensure the safety of persons with disabilities in the event of a disaster, but also to promote cooperation between welfare personnel, local communities, and local governments in disaster management, ultimately aiming to make real a community inclusive society.

Current Status of Individual Evacuation Plans

It was in 2005 when the system of “individual plans” (currently the “individual evacuation plans”) to create evacuation plans in the event of a disaster for persons needing support began.  As of October 1, 2020, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency, only 12.1% of the municipalities have completed the formulation of individual plans for all those listed under persons needing support.

In comparison, in recent years, many persons needing support lost their lives not only caused directly by disasters, but also due to other disaster-related reasons.  Evacuation support that relies solely on the goodwill of local communities is not sufficient enough, thus, effective planning, training, verification, and review of plans are required.

Barriers to Creating Individual Evacuation Plans

There are some barriers in the creation of individual evacuation plans.  I would like to discuss these barriers from the perspective of people, local communities, and systems, and consider which way we can draw up solutions.

(1) The People’s Perspective

First of all, the number of local government personnel is small compared to the large number of elderly persons and persons with disabilities.  Over the past 25 years, the number of elderly people aged 75 years or older has increased 2.6 times, and the number of persons with disabilities who have obtained a Certification for Persons with Disabilities has increased more than 60%, whereas, the number of local government employees has decreased by 16.5%.  Local residents are also suffering from a shortage of supporters due to the aging population.

Therefore, there is a strong need for welfare professionals to be involved in the preparation of individual evacuation plans.  Consultation support specialists come into contact with persons with disabilities on a daily basis, so they are familiar with the situation and are trusted by persons with disabilities.  On the other hand, since one consultation support specialist supports many persons with disabilities, in the event of a disaster, it is difficult to immediately support all of them.  For this reason, it is important to have a community coordination meeting that connects persons with disabilities with local residents after obtaining the consent of persons with disabilities and their families.  In this way, there is no issue about sharing personal information and it might even be expected to lead towards forming close relationships with one another, leading to concrete planning and training.

(2) Local Communities’ Perspective

In 1997, 42.3% of the people had close relationships with their neighbors (White Paper on the National Lifestyle, FY2007), but in 2021, it dropped drastically to 8.9% (Opinion Poll on Social Awareness, FY2021).  Furthermore, the connection between persons with disabilities and the local community has been weak for some time, and the lack of understanding of persons with disabilities in the community has been an issue.  The principal of a school for the deaf who visited the coastal areas of Fukushima Prefecture after the Great East Japan Earthquake said, “From my experience of visiting many disaster-stricken areas, I believe it is important for persons with disabilities to help each other in the community, but unfortunately I don’t think it is always done well.”  (“If only there was a little more support … Records of disasters and evacuation of persons with disabilities from the Great East Japan Earthquake” written by Masahiko Nakamura and published by The Earth Kyoikushinsha, February 2012).

In normal times, there is not much need for persons with disabilities to connect with the community.  However, to be saved in a disaster, it is important to build close relationships during normal times; hence, a community coordination meeting will serve such an opportunity.  In the advance cases of Beppu City of Oita Prefecture and Hyogo Prefecture, persons needing high-priority support attend the community coordination meetings themselves, while welfare professionals and local residents share necessary information and make adjustments, and then create their individual evacuation plans.  A welfare professional who actually creates a plan would be paid 7,000 yen per case.

(3) Systems and know-how

The individual evacuation plan overlaps with part of the BCP for welfare institutions because it is about providing support for the evacuation for persons with disabilities living at home.  However, the know-how of planning has not yet been fully achieved.  The government is currently implementing a model project, so I will consider drawing up a plan based on the results of the project.

As for “when,” it is common to say it is when Alert Level 3 “Evacuation for the Elderly” is issued, but in order to evacuate, it is necessary to make some preparations and, above all, to make a decision to evacuate.  Therefore, sincere communication and support from families and supporters, such as calling for evacuation preparations at the forecast stage and confirming evacuation sites are necessary.  It is also effective to use tools that facilitate connection, such as SNS.

“Where” is a general designated evacuation center, most of which are elementary and junior high schools, but it is an extremely difficult environment for persons with disabilities.  Hence, evacuation centers for persons with special needs

are required, but even if they are designated as evacuation centers for persons with special needs, manuals have not been created as shown in the figure, and due to lack of training, even stockpiles have not been prepared.

Figure: Manuals, training, and stockpiles of designated evacuation centers for persons with special needs

Source: “Survey Research on Support System for Evacuees from Outside Evacuation Centers” March 2022, Japan Fire and Crisis Management Association

Fukushi Bosai Community Inc. (Welfare Disaster Management Community Association), which conducts many trainings on evacuation centers for persons with special needs, provides manuals on the establishment and operation of evacuation centers free of charge.  As you can download from their website, feel free to use it.

“Who” is the biggest issue for the time being.  At the moment, there are many cases where persons with disabilities and local residents are not connected, so we cannot decide on specific supporters.  Some local residents do not know the characteristics of disabilities, so they are afraid to support persons with disabilities with a sense of responsibility.  Therefore, organizations such as voluntary disaster prevention organizations, neighborhood associations/self-governing associations, firefighting teams, and welfare service providers are selected as supporters.  In fact, as evacuation drills are conducted, supporters will eventually emerge.  Even if organizations have always been supporters, they will surely come to help if they know that there are persons with disabilities who have difficulty evacuating.

As for “how,” if there is one among the family members who is supportive and can drive for a person with a disability who can get into a car, then we recommend that they evacuate by car.  In many cases when evacuating, it is often raining, so evacuating on foot is not practical.

According to a research, in Shichigahama Town, Miyagi Prefecture, the odds ratio of those who had participated in tsunami evacuation drills before the earthquake was 1.99 times higher than those who had not, and for those who were in a tsunami flooded area, the odds ratio was 3.46 times higher.  (Naoki Nakaya, “Effects of Tsunami Evacuation Drills on Evacuation Behavior,” Saitama Prefectural University – Community-Industry-Academia Collaboration Center, 2019 Web Lecture).  After all, training is very effective.

In conclusion

Japan is called a disaster archipelago, and every year, a large-scale disaster occurs somewhere.  However, prefectures experience disasters “occasionally” and municipalities “rarely.”  Moreover, in most cases, it is a “first time” experience for individual welfare personnel.  That is why it is necessary to create an individual evacuation plan, repeat drills, and simulate it.

Individual evacuation plans for persons with disabilities are BCPs of welfare service providers themselves.  In order to protect persons with disabilities when a disaster occurs, welfare professionals who have supported them on a daily basis have no choice but to play a role.  By involving local residents and municipalities and overcoming barriers between people, local communities, and systems, we can also create an opportunity to build relationships that support each other in the local community during normal times.  Let us break away from a society wherein “disasters defeat the weak” and rather promote the creation of a community inclusive society that is safe and secure both in daily life and during a disaster.