By Yusuke Yamada
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An intense earthquake occurred in Niigata Prefecture on October 23, causing terrible damage in many districts. In two weeks the death toll reached 40. More than 103,000 residents were forced to evacuate to the shelters at the least. This temblor has two distinctive features. One is that many aftershocks continued to jolt Niigata Prefecture, and the other is that many victims died of secondary causes. So far these have not occurred in quakes in Japan. Therefore, the government and citizens couldn't properly deal with the conditions. It made the damage more terrible. This was the first experience of a quake for people in Niigata, but they are doing their best. Let's look back at this disaster.
To the surprise of many, "Economy Class Syndrome" arose as a serious problem. Half of the deaths were caused by it and many elderly people died of shock and fatigue. Why did so many people lose their lives because of this?
These victims lived mainly in their family cars. The survey showed that there were over 150 cars with people living in them. In fact, there seemed to be more cars in the devastated area. As to the reason why people didn't live in their homes, fifty percent said their homes were scattered and they were afraid of the aftershocks. Others said their houses collapsed and that it was more convenient to gather information from the radio in their cars. Moreover, if they lived in their houses, they were in danger because the damaged houses might collapse. On the other hand, as to the reason why people didn't evacuate to the shelters, many said they would be annoyed with not having their privacy in the shelters. This time public officials didn't inform citizens of any information, so citizens were confused and couldnŐt coordinate anything as a group. Unity and cooperation are important in such circumstances.
If the aftershocks had not continued for so long, the government could have coped with people and the conditions. However, this time people had to live in the evacuation centers for a long time. Considering this point, let us think about the measures of the government and the officials. Economy Class Syndrome is not the fault of the victims. After the quake many people didn't think that such a syndrome would kill anyone. A shortage of water and accumulated fatigue can induce this syndrome. Actually, one person who died of it didn't drink water because of the lack of temporary lavatories. He didn't have enough knowledge about the disease. A week after the quake the government started to set up more lavatories. Also, the lack of supplies was a big problem. Though the government supplied the victims with rice balls and bread, they were not satisfied with it at all. The government should have rapidly given them supplies, efficiently using the Self-Defense Forces. Concerning the inspection by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, of course it was important not to just visit the devastated area but listen and understand the real conditions. Moreover, the visit of top Japanese government officials helps encourage exhausted people, so a quick and meaningful visit seems to be needed.
The delay of the recovery of services was very serious. Water was still cut off at about 23,000 houses a week after the quake and gas wasn't recovered until at least two weeks after. Though the recovery of services was one of the top priorities, it was delayed too long. The government didn't know how to take measures against the disaster because many large aftershocks occurred and Japan hadn't experienced such a case before. Hence, Japan should learn from this and use this experience to advance disaster plans for the future.
Japan is a country famous for having many earthquakes. Individuals, the community, the local government, and the national government should reflect on this calamity and make firm provisions.
After about two weeks, the government gradually caught up with the real situation with the help of many people, companies, and organizations. In the beginning, there were many issues such as victims who died of shock and getting supplies to the victims. However, these problems were tackled and the victims began to rest easier little by little. But now, a number of problems remain; these include the natural dams that were formed in the village of Niigata, the heavy snow coming this winter, the way of evacuating to temporary housing shelters, the support to rebuild the lives of the victims, and the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The victims are still not relieved of these problems.
Earthquakes are horrible because nobody knows when they will occur. Therefore, we tend to forget to fear them, but we always keep it in the back of our minds. We should tighten the relationship between neighbors, prepare water, food and other necessities, and rebuild houses to withstand quakes. We always need to be on the alert for them.