Minekazu Tsuchiya
Executive Director
Center for Independent Living STEP Edogawa

Edogawa, the ward of Tokyo in which I live, is surrounded by water on three sides: the Arakawa River, the Edo River, and Tokyo Bay. Moreover, 70% of the land area in the ward is even with sea level (the land is lower than the surface of the water at high tide). The land is originally too low to drain even with normal rainfall, so pumps are used to drain the water.

In the event of flooding on land with these characteristics, almost the entire ward of Edogawa is considered to be at risk of flooding, with wide areas sometimes being flooded more than 3 meters, and some places more than 5 meters. In many places, it takes a week or two, or even longer, for water to recede after flooding. The hazard map of Edogawa Ward says shockingly about such dangerous places, “DO NOT STAY HERE” .

In recent years, disasters occur every year, and we often hear that it is the largest in recorded history. The same thing could happen to anyone of us at any time…. I remember feeling scared when I thought about it. Videos and images of flooding have commonly been seen in recent years and in the video, we often hear things like, “I’ve lived here for decades but I’ve never experienced anything like this before.” If that had happened here….

I have a cervical cord injury and always use a simple electric wheelchair. I live alone, but due to my disability, there are many things I cannot do by myself, such as eating, bathing, using the restroom, and other daily living activities, so I live with the help of caregivers. Even if I am in a situation where I need to evacuate, I will need someone’s help because I cannot do these things by myself. Also, even If I can evacuate, I will still need someone to care for me (for eating, using the restroom, etc.). Of course, since there will be many evacuees in shelters, it may be possible to ask them to help with small things. However, this is not the case when it comes to assistance that requires skills, such as using the restroom, etc.

Until now, I had thought of evacuating as someone else’s problem, but when I think about it again, I realize that there are many things that I don’t understand, and situations that I can’t think of any solutions for. After all, if I do not decide in advance what I will do when the time comes, I will be in trouble and unable to do anything at that time. I think one of them is an individual evacuation plan, but the point is to decide with whom and where to evacuate to. However, come to think of it, this is very difficult. One word that comes up several times in an individual evacuation plan is “family.” In my case, I live alone and have no relatives nearby. I also have no relationship with my neighbors.

When I thought about “with whom” in such a situation, I thought that a caregiver who is usually assisting me would be the most reliable. However, even if I evacuate to a shelter with my caregiver, it is another matter of whether the caregiver can stay there for a long time. As I mentioned earlier, I need various types of assistance, but caregivers have their own needs and may have family members to care for. I feel that it is really difficult to suddenly ask them to stay with me for any length of time. Even if I were able to stay with them for a while, I imagine it would be quite difficult to ask for help all the time.

I feel this would be the same even if I evacuate to a welfare shelter. In Edogawa Ward, a system has been established to allow those who have difficulty evacuating to a temporary shelter or home to evacuate directly to a welfare shelter if they receive the correct designation from the welfare shelter. However, this only provides space, not a bed, nor other supplies, nor sufficient assistance. Also, only one companion (caregiver) is allowed, so even if we have family members, we cannot evacuate there with our whole families. In the first place, the areas where the welfare shelters are located are also considered to be at risk of flooding according to hazard maps. The depth of the flooding would almost be the same as that of my house, so if there is nothing prepared, I have to wonder if it would make any sense for me to go there.

The Center for Independent Living STEP Edogawa (henceforth referred to as STEP Edogawa) has been gradually considering how to respond to disasters as an office that dispatches caregivers. Naturally, during a disaster, it becomes very difficult to dispatch caregivers. Or rather, we can’t do it for safety reasons. For many of the users of STEP Edogawa, like myself, live alone, and receive assistance on a daily basis. If the caregivers cannot come, however, daily living would not only become impossible for us, but it could even be life-threatening.

As a result of consideration based on this, STEP Edogawa decided to try out the method of a mass wide-area evacuation as one of the options. There is hope that many of these problems can be solved by evacuating as a group, including caregivers and their families. This mass wide-area evacuation was being considered in cooperation with the Edogawa Disaster Prevention Project for Everyone (EMINBO), which consists of STEP Edogawa staff including myself, disaster prevention specialists living in the ward, construction consultants, and other volunteers.

In such a situation, Typhoon No.19 occurred in 2019, and this was a major trigger that made us acutely aware of this necessity. Then, in December of the same year, as a first drill, a small group of 12 people (including 4 wheelchair users and 1 child) conducted an evacuation drill to Kiyosato in Yamanashi Prefecture.

This allowed us to find and verify various issues that were more realistic rather than assumptions. Using this information, in June of this year, as a more realistic attempt, we expanded the total number of participants to about 50 (including 12 wheelchair users [including 1 respirator user], 1 individual with a visual impairment, 1 individual with an intellectual disability, and 2 children) and conducted a mass wide-area evacuation drill to Kiyosato. It was an unprecedented attempt to charter a large sightseeing bus with a lift and stay overnight in a gymnasium (Photos 1 and 2).

Photo 1. Large sightseeing bus with a lift that allows wheelchair-bound passengers to get on and off the bus

Photo 2. Gymnasium can be rented for one night. Only bedding is rented, bring the rest.

Evacuation does not end with simply moving people. It may be for a long period of time. In that case, I strongly believe that we have to also take into account living arrangements for that period of time. This is because I feel that having a disability brings with it all sorts of harmful effects. If we consider only the evacuation plan but not also the living arrangements for that period, individuals with disabilities (even individuals without disabilities) are afraid that our life there will soon become very difficult indeed.

However, there are many issues. One of them is cost. This time, due to various circumstances, the drill was held far away in Kiyosato. We also utilized subsidies, but that was not enough and placed a heavy burden on our office. I feel that one of the factors that make people hesitate to evacuate is the cost.

Edogawa Ward also has a system that subsidizes 3,000 yen per night for up to three nights in the event of a wide-area evacuation. How do we clearly state the saying “DO NOT STAY HERE” while also utilizing this system? Currently, we haven’t been able to cooperate well with the government, but we would like to actively do what we can while also expanding the system.