Anxiety of living in temporary housing
community
It is encouraging if neighbours can live
together in the same temporary housing
community. However, in many cases, they
cannot live together, but instead ended up
living apart. Strangers tended to live together
as neighbours as a result of lottery and priority
of accommodation. It took a lot of time until
the evacuees got used to living in temporary
housing because everyone had to live in a
place that was strange to them and did not
even know who or what to ask.
Supporters’ System
There is a system to provide necessary
information to residents in temporary housing
by visiting each house. The names and roles
are slightly different in each local government,
as they are often called ‘consulting staff’,
‘visiting supporting staff’, ‘bonding supporting
staff’, etc.. They link affected people and local
governments, consult about health, mental
and living concerns or household equipment,
and help in organizing gatherings at
communities and managing meetings. It is
desirable to set up mechanisms, like
neighbourhood associations, in a community
of temporary housing as soon as possible.
However, people are not willing to take part in
these activities because they are busy with
reconstructing their lives and concerns of their
own and families such as health problems and
job-hunting. The activities of these supporting
staff are important until local mechanisms can
be established.
Including women and men in both visiting
and welcoming teams
It is desirable to have equal numbers of men
and women in the supporting staff because
women sometimes hesitate to consult men.
One local government not only included
women in their supporting staff but also
placed a woman in a management position of
a support center for affected people in the
community, and then affected people began
to come to the center to consult them by
themselves, rather than just waiting for
supporting staff to visit. Support centers are
more than a window for government. They
function as a meeting place where victims can
drop by, without reserve, and avoid keeping
to themselves at home. In a place where
everyone can gather without hesitation, both
men and women support staff should be
available.