Shelter fatigue most common cause of deaths in over 70-evacuees

July 13, 2012

47 percent of disaster evacuee deaths from shelter fatigue: gov't report

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20120713p2a00m0na013000c.html

Forty-seven percent of 529 post-Great East Japan Earthquake deaths investigated in a government probe were from "physical or mental fatigue from life at evacuation shelters," an interim report has shown.

The next most common cause of death was "fatigue from moving to evacuation shelters," at 37 percent, followed by "worsening of illnesses due to ceased hospital operations," at 24 percent, the interim report released July 12 by the Reconstruction Agency found. Around 90 percent of the people who died were aged 70 or over.

The findings were released during a meeting of government bodies discussing the causes of disaster-related deaths and relevant countermeasures. The Reconstruction Agency began investigating 1,263 deaths in 18 municipalities in the three prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima at the end of March. The deaths were among 1,632 it had recognized as disaster-related. By the end of May, it had compiled data on the causes of 529 of those deaths.

Based on death certificates and other information, 249 deaths were found to be from physical or mental fatigue from living at evacuation shelters. Specific examples showed that victims "refrained from drinking water in environments with insufficient toilet facilities after water supplies were stopped" and "became exhausted after being crammed in the small confines of evacuation shelters."

Cases among 127 deaths resulting from halted hospital operations included those in which victims had been unable to receive treatment because most hospital staff had evacuated, had been unable to take appropriate meals, and had had intravenous drips removed due to the danger of aftershocks.