Mayumi Furube, Ryosuke Aota
Studies in Disaster Recovery and Revitalization, Vol.13 17-31, Sep, 2021 Last author
The people who were evacuated due to the Fukushima Nuclear Accident have
settled widely around the country. Fukushima evacuees in western Japan are concentrated mainly in Hyogo, Osaka, and Kyoto. To reconstruct their lives at the
evacuation sites evacuees have to overcome their sadness and loss, reestablish
daily routines at the places they have chosen, and increase their involvement in
their new communities in terms of housing, work, medical care, school, supporters,
etc.
This paper investigated the relationships of evacuees with local people, support groups, local government, and schools. Of those who talked about their experiences
at evacuation sites 80 percent said they have received various forms of support. The
main forms of encouragement were “providing useful information,” “offering help,”
“positive approaches,” and “expression of empathy / acceptance.” The encouragement
elicited positive emotions such as “acceptance,” “comfort,” “healing,” “safety,” “gratitude,” and “understood,” and alleviated the social isolation, anxiety, and tension associated with evacuation. Encouragement gives evacuees a sense of belonging. A sense of companionship with their new community and a sense of belonging with new neighbors help to relieve the social isolation and anxiety caused by evacuation.
On the other hand, it may happen that some local residents of the host area do not really understand the evacuation and consider the presence of evacuees as “not good.” As a result, evacuees may experience negative emotions and uncertainty and their social relationship with local residents may regress.
This research provides valuable reference information to consider for evacuations caused by possible major disasters in the near future.
Keywords : wide-area evacuation, Great East Japan Earthquake, Fukushima Nuclear
Disaster, community acceptance