Concerns of those who have to go to work during post-disaster period
Who takes care of families during emergency situations?
Some of the local government officials and
l i fel ine corporate employees have an
obligation to go to work when disasters
happen. Preparing for these situations, it is
important to discuss with other family
members, relatives or neighbours in advance
to decide who picks up, ensures the security
of, protects and takes care of children or
family members who need the care of others
during times of emergency.
In the case where officials were also affected
and had to go to work from an evacuation
center, they could not leave their children so
that they often brought their children to work.
One local government officer in Miyagi
prefecture, and her husband who was also a
local government officer, were at work when
the disaster happened and they could not
leave the office for over a month. They already
asked their relative to pick up their children
from a nursery and take them to their parents’
home if a big disaster were to occur. The
arrangement mitigated their worries about
taking care of children except for their feelings
of missing their children.
A female officer at a local government in Iwate
prefecture survived the tsunami although her
home was swept away. After the disaster, she
shared a saloon room of a hotel with
colleagues which they used as their
accommodation, and devoted herself to
emergency response work. Once she went to
an evacuation center, but she felt that it was
not a place for single women. While families
often felt that it was difficult to live there, as a
single woman, she felt it much stronger.
She managed to set herself up in temporary
housing, but she could not receive domestic
electrical appliances which were distributed to
every family who moved in since they were
supposed to be distributed during daytime
when she was not at home. As the cold
season approached, she could not take
receipt of these appliances. She finally picked
them up at a different time because she could
tell a dealer, “I cannot pick up these
appliances during the daytime since I am a
public officer and am not allowed to have a
break during the daytime.” Single people who
are not public officers might have hesitated to
ask for this special arrangement.
Like people who have to take care of families,
single people also tend to have a difficult time
since they have to do everything on their own
and it seems that they are more reluctant to
ask for help. As single-headed households
increase in Japan, a system that allows
friends or acquaintances to act on behalf of
single people is necessary