Information Sharing Meeting of DPOs and Support Organizations in Miyagi Prefecture

Information Sharing Meeting on Eastern Japan (Tohoku-Kanto) Great Earthquake

On April 7, an information sharing meeting was held with the participation of DPOs and supporting organizations for persons with disabilities in Miyagi Prefecture. About 70 participants reported the situations, and actively exchanged their views for over 3 hours by extending the scheduled time.

Outline of the meeting

"Information Sharing Meeting on Eastern Japan (Tohoku-Kanto) Great Earthquake"

Date and Time: April 7, 2011 (Thursday) 14:00-17:00

Place: 1st Meeting Room, 11th floor, Sendai Municipal Welfare Plaza

Organizers:

Miyagi Support Association for Persons with Disabilities Affected by the Earthquake
Miyagi Support Center, JDP Headquarters for the Comprehensive Support for Persons with Disabilities Hit by the Tohoku-Kanto Great Earthquake

Program:

Remarks by Organizer

Mr. Kazuhiko ABE (Representative of Miyagi Support Association for Persons with Disabilities Affected by the Earthquake/ Director, Miyagi Support Center)

Remarks by Government Representatives

Mr. Isao SUGAWARA (Deputy-Director, Disability Welfare Division, Miyagi Prefectural Government)
Mr. Kazuhiro YAMAGATA (Chief, Living Support Section, Disability Support Division, Sendai Municipal Government)

Remarks by Representative of Concerned Organizations

Ms. Yayoi OKAWA (Director, Department of Functioning Activation, Research Institute, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology)

1.Introduction of the participants
2.Reports from DPOs on situation of damages
3.Reports form supporting organizations
4.Exchange of views
5.Discussion on;
- (1)Basic ideas and challenges of current support activities
- (2)Long-term directions
- (3)Coordination among relevant organizations

Closing remarks by Mr. Shigeru NISHIKAWA (Secretary-General, Miyagi Support Center)

Participation: Representatives from 45 organizations (Participant list is to be made.)

Summary of the meeting

Remarks by the organizer

Mr. Kazuhiko ABE explained his intention to match the support with the needs of affected areas by concrete information sharing and coordination, wishing to construct better community than before by sharing special needs of persons with disabilities, and expressed his wish of proposing a vision of mutual support in Japanese society from this affected areas.

Remarks by government representatives

Mr. Isao SUGAWARA explained the activities by Miyagi Prefecture including; instructing municipal governments, sharing the map of flooded areas, and providing information of facilities. He expressed his wish for ensuring the safety of support activities of participating organizations.
Mr. Kazuhiro YAMAGATA appreciated the participating organizations' activities especially for the affected people at home for whom the government has difficulty to extending their support, adding his willingness to cooperate with the participating organizations.

Remarks by the representative from concerned organizations

Ms. Yayoi OKAWA pointed out the importance of showing the situation of affected people based on solid data, and reminded about the necessity to paying attention not only to people in the shelters but also the ones at home. She also noted the importance for experts and supporters to remain in the background when they support the community, drawing participants' attention to the importance of continued and equitable supports.

Report from AAR Japan

AAR Japan has been engaging in relief activities in the affected areas since two days after the earthquake. Coordination is the point, and AAR Japan's coordination partners are prefectural governments, municipal governments, disaster headquarters offices and JDF. Their current challenges are how to support people at home as well as how to make an overall coordination of support operations.

Reports from representatives of DPOs

We are just stunned by this unprecedented disaster.
Our challenge is to deliver necessities and assistive devices to member associations.
Members could not be reached just after the earthquake because telephone services were disrupted. Ensuring communications is a big problem.
Neighborhood community association members did not come. We realized the need to make a contact network.
Lack of gasoline prevents us from contacting to members as well as obtaining and delivering medicines and necessities. Helpers cannot come either due to the lack of gasoline. Priority should be given to persons with disabilities because gasoline's availability is a matter of survival.
Neighbors' supports were more helpful than relatives' support. We need to think about how to interact with neighbors from ordinary times.
Personal information protection prevents us from contacting to members. We cannot communicate each other because name lists in the facilities and centers washed away in the tsunami.
Members who have disabilities have been under a lot of stress because they fell out of their routine such as going to workshops. There are members who have panic attack at home. Psychological supports are needed. Otherwise not only persons with disabilities but also families and supporters will become strained.
Members could not get home back after the earthquake because the public transportation services were suspended. We wonder if public transportation services were really prepared for disaster or not. Some members had to be sent by cars of staff members of facilities or family members. Others had to spend the night in emergency shelters. Members as well as supporters get stressed out.
Unlike the shelters, relief operations did not reach to our group home, and we had to make lines for hours to buy food and necessities. More than 10 days had passed when drinking water and cooked rice were finally delivered. We request relief operations for facilities scattering over affected areas.
We somehow managed to open our workshop for day activity. However, we cannot resume our activity because our business partners have not opened and the gas supply has not recovered yet.
We request more coordination among organizations from outside for effective supports.
We, as a support organization in a neighboring prefecture, would like to provide support.
We, as a counseling center, contacted our clients on foot or by bicycle because gasoline was not available. Our municipality's living support service cannot provide this kind of service.
DPO should be included in government Council for Reconstruction Concepts. We request JDF to work on this issue.
Our staff members have been working night and day to provide welfare shelter services. They need a break.
I myself am a victim, and have been preoccupied of caring my family and myself. Today I participated in this meeting to think about what I can do for my colleagues from now on.
We contacted to local governments and special-needs schools to understand the needs of the victims, called for necessary goods through a mailing list, and delivered them. The challenge is how to support the victims who cannot reach local governments or schools to tell about their needs.
Our workshop cannot resume operation. I wonder how to pay for our users. We cannot request the government for payment to our services. I am afraid we will have problems in continuing our services.
In addition to disseminating information on antiepileptic drugs and consultation counters through mass media, we hand out flyers at shelters. Some persons with epilepsy stay at home out of anxiety of a seizure. Some cannot tell about their needs because they hide from their disease. Our challenge is to ensure the support for these people. Networking is important.
We would like to request counseling support centers specializing on disaster.
There are goods in shelters, but there are not batteries for hearing aid and artificial ear. People do not know that persons with hearing loss cannot communicate in noisy places like shelters. They have problems in getting information even if they are staying with their families or acquaintances. They become passive and feel lonely, being afraid of becoming a burden. We would like to begin peer support services because we think it important.
In the midst of the very serious situation of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear power plant crisis, persons with hearing impairments do not have enough information. For example, when a sudden black-out occurs, they cannot hear the radio nor understand the situation. Evacuation information in public places should be recognizable for them by putting flashlight or other measures.
I had to move from a tsunami-affected temporary shelter to another shelter, where I had a problem of insomnia due to its hard floor. After that, I move to my acquaintance's house before settling in a private apartment. I myself am a victim, and have not been able to support others.
We have contacted to oxygen bottle user members in cooperation with the suppliers. Another support is to put information for persons with disabilities (e.g. contact information) on newspapers.
The earthquake is a big stress for persons with mental disorders. Some people will have PTSD or depression for the first time because of this earthquake. We would like to provide helpline services by utilizing our peer-counseling skills. There is the kind of counseling service and information which can be provided only by the persons with the same kind of disorder.
Among persons with visual impairments, especially persons with low vision are not readily recognized by others, and have a problem expressing their needs. Our challenge is to make a network in the community. We have set up a headquarters to support persons with visual impairments to contact and visit them. We are willing to cooperate with this meeting's participants. Telephone information service system is being prepared for persons with visual impairments who cannot read TV caption.
Today, we received a safety confirmation call from government office for the first time since the earthquake. Government offices should prioritize safety confirmation activities over personal information protection.

Discussion

Information sharing and coordination meeting like this should be organized regularly, once a week if possible. It is usually the case in other countries that such meeting is organized at least once a week. In Miyagi prefecture, coordination meeting among medical workers is held every morning.
What organization is responsible for gathering, sharing and disseminating information? Roles of each organization, including JDF, have to be defined clearly.
It is important to see the current emergency activities from a cool-headed perspective, and this is the role of JDF and supporters.
We should be aware of the changes in supported persons as supports are provided to them.

Summary of the discussion

The information and materials provided in this meeting will be gathered by the secretariat to share with today's participants.
We would like to continue such an information sharing forum. If we would like organize regularly under the consultation with Miyagi Support Association, we will propose our idea to you.
Information dissemination will be done by JDF.
People from outside have to remain in the background in supporting local communities.

Others

Ms. Okawa, with the consent of the participants, carried out a simple oral questionnaire survey on the awareness of measures for people in need in disaster situations.

Closing remarks

Mr. Shigeru NISHIKAWA, secretary-general of Miyagi Support Center, summarized this first, long meeting as an opportunity for various organizations to share what they are thinking, noting that both immediate support activities and long-term reconstruction efforts based on the real situation are needed. He also asked participants to pick-up flyers of Miyagi Support Center to share in other places.

Translated by Japanese Society for Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities Volunteer translator :
Mr. Shintaro Nakamura

Go to the top of this page. | Go to the upper category.