Kyosaren's Support Activities and Reconstruction and Disaster Prevention-related Proposals From a Perspective of Workshops and Disability Support Offices

Kaoru Tada
Secretary General, Kyosaren

Introduction

Although more than a few areas that were affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake are on the path to reconstruction, there are still many that have not seen the light at the end of the tunnel. If anything, support will probably become more important from now.

The Great East Japan Earthquake resulted in the death of 15,879 people, and 2,700 people are still missing (both figures are as of January 16, 2013, and based on figures released by the National Police Agency). It has been reported that the mortality rate for persons with disabilities was 2 - 4 times that of the general population. There is still no idea when the Fukushima nuclear accident will be resolved, and many people cannot return to their home towns.

Problems lie in the future. What have the government, legislature, and private organizations done to help struggling residents and persons with disabilities and what is the most important thing that they should do in the future? If concrete measures are not taken, people will have no hope or a foothold for reconstruction or a new life. If people are left on their own and forced to take responsibility for what happens and help themselves, many may fall into despair.

1. Current conditions and outlook of workshops and disability support offices based on the earthquake

With the catchphrase “one Kyosaren,” Kyosaren established the Earthquake Response Headquarters (headed by President Tadashi Nishimura) and launched activities to collaboratively develop support activities on the day the earthquake hit.

Various types of measures related to disabilities, such as those to provide support on several fronts, including living areas, workplaces, residences, and people, have lagged behind other efforts for some time. This same tendency was visible following the Great East Japan Earthquake, which made the struggles of persons with disabilities even more evident. Local industries sustained major damage, and many people are still unable to return to work. Work at workshops and offices and their sales have not returned to their pre-disaster levels. Although wages at workshops in Minamisoma-shi, Fukushima, have finally recovered to the pre-disaster level, areas throughout Japan have provided support. The same basic conditions can be seen in other areas affected by the disaster.

Kirara Onagawa, a workshop located in Onagawa-cho, Miyagi, moved offices on the day of the tsunami, which washed away the new building. Two of its members are either dead or missing. After deciding to rebuild, the workshop struggled to select a location for its new office but is making preparations for reopening in March 2013. Kyosaren also solicited donations throughout Japan.

In Fukushima, immediately after the disaster, persons with disabilities did not stay long at emergency shelters for various reasons and returned to their homes knowing the danger, but they needed a place to go during the day. Although workshops and offices reopened, more than a few young workers gave up continuing their work because they had evacuated, leading to a shortage of both young staff and specialists. JDF continues to provide support to various entities in Minamisoma-shi, such as workshops and offices, group homes, and Kyosaren has called on organizations throughout Japan to contribute resources and continues to dispatch workers.

On the other hand, the central government has been slow to react. There have been few signs that the government is taking into consideration the opinions and ideas of the many people requiring support and working to implement concrete steps related to providing counseling services, ascertaining actual conditions, undertaking reconstruction, and developing future disaster prevention measures.

We would like to request that the central government promptly take various steps including the following: clearly prioritize disability related efforts in national reconstruction support measures, quickly ascertain and verify the conditions of persons with disabilities after the disaster, and thoroughly adopt and maintain a perspective of targeting all citizens, including persons with disabilities, in reconstruction and future disaster prevention plans.

2. Summary of Kyosaren support activities

The following are the core support activities that Kyosaren has conducted until now.

• Confirming the safety of workshops and offices and their users immediately after the disaster (including people who are not Kyosaren members).
• Ascertaining the needs of support offices and their users affected by the disaster for relief goods and procuring and sending needed goods.
• Dispatching advance teams to provide support for persons with disabilities and ascertaining conditions after the disaster.
• Providing man-power support to disaster areas and offices affected by the disaster and dispatching personnel to conduct surveys on conditions after the disaster and needs of persons with disabilities affected by the disaster (in response to requests by JDF). A total of 6,000 people were sent as of December 31, 2012.
• Conducting fundraising activities (around 98.00 million yen as of December 31, 2012) and activities using funds such as grants for persons with disabilities and offices affected by the disaster (around 41.00 million yen as of December 31, 2012) and support activity expenses.
• Providing support for sales activities, including Internet sales of items made by offices affected by the disaster (21,255,114 yen in sales as of January 17, 2013).

3. Issues that have come to light

Problems such as evacuation support systems not functioning after the disaster and the Act on the Protection of Personal Information acting as a barrier to relief and support activities have probably been discussed in other chapters and by other organizations. Therefore, I would like to focus on problems due to damage to workshops and offices, and support and relief activities.

(1) Dispatch of workers to disability support offices affected by the disaster

On March 18, 2011, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare issued the “Request for the Dispatch of Parties such as Caregivers Following the Great East Japan Earthquake” notification, and decided to dispatch workers to support offices affected by the disaster, including ones providing services to the elderly. This was an important activity based on lessons learned from various disasters including the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake and the two earthquakes in the Niigata-Chuetsu region.

However, many offices had to give up on making use of that system. The main problem was that costs incurred by offices affected by the disaster where staff were dispatched to and the offices where the dispatched staff came from were a major burden. The uncertainty of application of disaster relief funds at an early stage was also a major problem. In addition, there were even constraints on participating in support activities for offices, and it is impossible to flexibly respond to the needs of the actual disaster area and offices affected by the disaster. There were various other issues such as coordinators being limited to certain designated organizations and bothersome procedures. We appreciate that the MHLW dispatched workers to offices in the disaster area but want to request that improvements be made to match actual conditions in the disaster area in preparation for the next disaster.

(2) Support for persons with disabilities, including small-scale community workshops and local activity support centers, and assistance for workshops

(Preparations for disasters)

It is important that the central government take responsibility to make it a requirement that municipalities include in their disaster response manual and manuals on evacuation support for people requiring aid during a disaster that if a disaster such as major earthquake hits while workshops or offices are open or persons with disabilities are at home, the safety of persons with disabilities be confirmed and that they promptly be evacuated.

In addition, it is important that the central government and local governments take responsibility for designating support offices that meet seismic requirements emergency shelters or food supply bases and that they are always prepared for disasters in consultation with the local government.

(Around one month after the disaster)

There were various needs including the following: even if only for a limited time, paying monthly compensation, which was normally paid daily, to workshops and offices that are temporarily closed because of damage; implementing equal measures for entities such as local support centers and small-scale community workshops; providing emergency financial support for reopening and restoring workshops and offices, including small-scale community workshops and local support centers; working with local governments to take steps such as smoothly supplying gasoline so that activities including purchasing food for users and transporting supplies to medical facilities can effectively be done; during non-emergency times, preparing places to accept temporary users; simplifying procedures for obtaining payments such as pensions over the counter and establishing wage and labor cost guarantees (including those for users of workshops and offices) when it is impossible to work because of a disaster.

(Support for reconstruction)

In the case of a workshop completely destroyed, not only was the building lost, but the lives of persons with disabilities were also negatively impacted. When rebuilding and reopening these facilities, there is a need for the central and local governments to undertake various types of support activities including assigning personnel to provide services including concrete counseling and reconstruction grants.

In addition, government measures and responses are probably necessary to meet needs related to maintaining employment, finding new positions, and providing counseling and intermediation services related to work and work content at offices. Corporations, welfare workshops, and private employers also need an advising counter to provide help on issues such as work content and facilities for persons with disabilities. It is necessary that private organizations also cooperate.

(3) Regional Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare offices in prefectures hit by the disaster

At the regional office for central government in the disaster area, the welfare-in-general counter dealt with all issues, making it impossible to provide services appropriate for actual conditions in local areas. Although important decisions were made by the central government, no efforts were made to provide disability specific services by establishing an individual counter in the disaster area, and this should be changed.

4. Issues related to workshops and offices themselves

Following the Great East Japan Earthquake, too, various forms of support were provided, such as many workshops and offices accepting local persons with disabilities immediately after the disaster. Some places undertook numerous activities, including letting their building be used as emergency shelters for residents and providing food and bathing services.

We have strived to develop workshops that are deeply rooted in the local community and have developed along with the local community, and having such workshops and offices play a valuable role during the disaster was an important experience during hard times.

There were some local governments that designated welfare facilities as evacuation and relief bases after a disaster. In addition to warning against simple deregulation of buildings that persons with disabilities use, we would like to have workshops and offices serve as evacuation and relief bases for local residents when there is a disaster and to actively work to provide local persons with disabilities and their families with security and safety while consulting with local governments.