Only a tiny fraction of blind people or those with visual impairments evacuated when deadly torrential rains hit western Japan last month, underscoring physical and psychological hurdles such people face at a time of a disaster, a Kyodo News survey found Tuesday. Six people were confirmed to have taken shelter\u2026<\/b>
\nOnly a tiny fraction of blind people or those with visual impairments evacuated when deadly torrential rains hit western Japan last month, underscoring physical and psychological hurdles such people face at a time of a disaster, a Kyodo News survey found Tuesday.
Six people were confirmed to have taken shelter at evacuation stations in the three hardest-hit prefectures of Okayama, Hiroshima and Ehime, according to 10 organizations for the blind or visually impaired people in the areas. The figure represents a small portion of some 1,410 people who were registered with the organizations.
Floods and mudslides caused by heavy rains left at least 226 people dead, mostly in the three prefectures.
Evacuation instructions and advisories were issued over the disaster in 23 of the country’s 47 prefectures, covering some 8.63 million people, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency. Roughly 23,000 took shelter at evacuation centers at one point, the agency said.
While many of the organizations‘ members said they stayed at home as they assumed dangers posed by the rains would be small, others said they found it difficult to evacuate on their own when there were floods and mudslides occurring around their places.
„I was thinking if I were to die, I would die here,“ said Sachie Shimizu, 58, who remained at her home in Kure, Hiroshima.
She lives with her 60-year-old sister, who is also visually impaired, and her 83-year-old bed-ridden mother with dementia.
She and her sister moved to the second floor but they were unable to carry her mother there, Shimizu said. She went to see her mother in the middle of the night by using an umbrella to touch the floor and make sure flood water has not reached the first floor.
Even those who managed to arrive at evacuation centers faced problems in unfamiliar environments.
In Kurashiki, Okayama, 48-year-old Katsue Yamasaki said she fled to a nearby elementary school with her family but got lost many times inside.
„It’s unclear how many people would actually help us (at a time of a disaster). I think many would hesitate to evacuate,“ Yamasaki said.
There were cases of people who grew hesitant to evacuate or were discouraged by others due to their physical conditions.
Toshimasa Onari, who heads a welfare group for the visually impaired in Fukuyama, Hiroshima, said a member of his organization was preparing to flee when her neighbor told her she should stay because she is visually impaired. The woman waited for rescue on her bed, he said.
Toshiko Ishizumi, 67, said she was urged by a senior member of a residents‘ association to leave her home in Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, but stayed behind thinking she would „become an encumbrance“ if she went with them.
„It would have been different if I had taken part in an emergency drill,“ she said.
Experts say emergency planning and help of local residents are crucial in realizing their smooth evacuations.
„Municipalities should work with local communities to create evacuation plans under the coordination of their disaster management and welfare sections,“ said Shigeo Tatsuki, a Doshisha University professor specializing in welfare and disaster prevention.
Generally, elderly people and people with disabilities should start evacuating their homes before municipalities issue evacuation advisories and instructions. People can also stay at home and move to safer locations inside their homes if going outside is too dangerous, experts say.
The number of people at evacuation centers has dropped from the levels in early days but more than 3,600 people were still living there as of early August.<\/p>\n