Importance of taking over work from a predecessor
Making the best use of human resources offered by local governments outside the affected areas
Problems of short-term dispatch
Many local government officers were
dispatched to the affected area from all over
Japan. Some said, “It was appreciated, but
we would like a person who was dispatched
to stay at least a month. An inadequate
takeover of the work or a weekly replacement
of support staff made affected people feel
anxious. This gap of takeover of the work
rebound upon the local government officers or
the leaders at the evacuation centers.”
It might not be easy, but if local governments
outside the affected areas can dispatch at
least some officers for a long term, which
improves the takeover of the work and
information sharing¸ they are able to support
the affected local governments in a better
way.
Information sharing from the community
In one local government in Miyagi Prefecture,
district nurses from all over Japan held a
meeting to inform local district nurses about
difficult points and serious cases which were
understood during visits to the local area. On
the other hand, local nurses explained a
summary of each district and the situation
during the disaster in order to make nurses
from outside understand the feelings of local
residents. In fact, local district nurses would
not have enough time to share the information
because they were very busy, but it is very
important to share information about
beneficiaries and damage situations to
support staff to produce results.