Making life as evacuee comfortable
Making temporary toilets accessible
In the facilities used as evacuation centers,
temporary toilets are set up because toilets
are often broken during disasters or there is a
shortage of the number of toilets. However,
most of the temporary toilets are of the
Japanese style (that require the user to squat
over the toilet) and have steps from the door,
so that they are not entirely accessible. With
the widespread use of Western-style toilets,
there are now certain numbers of people who
are not able to use Japanese-style toilets.
Some children, particularly, do not know how
to use them and make a mess when
attempting to use them. It annoys not only the
children themselves but also other people
who are living within the same evacuation
center.
There is one organization, which taught
children at evacuation centers, how to use the
Japanese-style toilets with a demonstration
using a dummy. In order to make temporary
toilets comfortable, it is also useful to request
the relief supplies to include Western-style
toilet seats, which can be attached to the
Japanese-style toi lets and smal l sized
assistant steps to make it easier to go up the
steps for the toilets.
There are other useful ideas, such as making
night lights brighter around toilets, extending
the distance between men’s and women’s
toilets, and setting up unisex toilets for
persons with disabilities which anyone can
use when other toilets are fully occupied.