Sleeping in the basement of the city “The key to disaster prevention” September 3, 19:02

At a large hospital in the middle of the city, work was underway to dig underground with a drill. The purpose is "disaster countermeasure key" to sleep deep underground.

When I proceeded with the interview, I was able to see the risks and solutions related to our lives in the anticipated future disasters such as the earthquake directly under the Tokyo Metropolitan area. (Social Department reporter Yuki Uchiyama)

A large hospital in Shibuya Ward Why underground?

“Japanese Red Cross Medical Center” is located in prime location in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo.
I was digging a few tens of meters underground with a drill.

“Measures to save patients from crisis in the event of a disaster”

Mr. Kaichi Maruyama, the director of the domestic medical relief department, taught us. In the Great East Japan Earthquake and the Kumamoto Earthquake, I have actually experienced medical treatment by entering the disaster area.

“The purpose is groundwater. In the Great East Japan Earthquake and the Kumamoto Earthquake, we were in a situation where the water supply could not be used in the hospitals in the affected areas. It must not be there. ”(Director Maruyama)

Why there is a water tank?

In addition to patient drinking water, hospitals require large amounts of water for surgery, artificial dialysis, etc. This hospital stores 200 tons of water in the water tank in case of water outage.

However, about 190 tons of water is needed a day. With normal usage, there is a risk of being exhausted in "about a day".

According to the assumption of an earthquake directly under the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, it takes about one month to restore almost all of the water supply. For this reason, the hospital decided that it was essential to secure more water.

Some hospitals evacuated 600 patients due to water interruption

Some hospitals have suffered a situation where 600 patients have been “evacuated from the prefecture” due to water outages. This is Tokiwa-kai, a hospital group in Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture, which was affected by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.

In this hospital group, which mainly conducts dialysis, all four facilities in the city were shut down due to the earthquake.

Artificial dialysis treatment requires a large amount of clean water. There were about 600 dialysis patients at the time. Water outage meant a life threatening.
The accident at TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was also overtaken. Many medical staff were unable to attend work and had to be handled by limited personnel.

Hiroshi Kawaguchi, Director of the Population Dialysis Center said, “We received water from the local government and the Self-Defense Forces, but there was not enough at all. "I looked back on that time."

4 days after the earthquake.
The hospital decided to evacuate all dialysis patients outside the prefecture.
It was a decision that involved the risk of losing the patient's physical strength due to the stress of evacuation.

Approximately 600 dialysis patients were transported to medical facilities in Tokyo, Chiba, and Niigata to continue treatment.

“There was also a risk to evacuate outside the hospital, but the risk was greater when dialysis was not possible.“ Water is life ”for dialysis patients.”

Groundwater already used based on experience

From this bitter experience, hospital groups have already begun using groundwater.

A special “filtering device” that can remove bacteria by passing through several layers of filters is provided. Prepare for disasters.

Insufficient measures at disaster base hospital 1/4

"Water of life" that saves us during disasters. How are hospitals nationwide prepared?

Due to heavy rains in western Japan and earthquakes in Hokkaido that occurred last year, water outages occurred and many hospitals were unable to provide medical care.

In response to this, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare conducted an emergency inspection at disaster base hospitals nationwide to see if there was a facility that could secure water for three days when there was a water outage.

As a result, it was found that 179 hospitals, about one-quarter of 736 disaster base hospitals, did not have the necessary equipment.

The country is taking measures to introduce groundwater

Furthermore, as we went further, we have learned that hospitals often do not want to use groundwater.

I interviewed 82 disaster base hospitals in Tokyo about the status of water outage countermeasures and the status of groundwater use, and received responses from 67 hospitals.

40 hospitals (59%) replied that they did not use groundwater. However, 21 of these responded that they wanted to use groundwater if the situation allowed.

Even if we think that the use of groundwater is necessary, there may be problems that cannot be used. When asked why, there were many cases such as “Costs cannot be covered” and “Tokyo Metropolitan regulations to prevent land subsidence”.

Even though we knew that countermeasures were necessary, we saw a situation where the existence of costs and regulations was a barrier.

Based on this situation, the national government decided to provide partial assistance to the disaster base hospitals throughout the country to maintain the hospital function for three days even if the water was shut down.

Equipment for using “groundwater” is also included in the assistance. It can be said that there is a sense of crisis in a series of disasters.

Expert “Support in the community”

Dr. Doichi Yui Koi of National Hospital Organization Disaster Medical Center points out that it is important to have “support in the community” consciousness without leaving the countermeasures to the hospital or state.

“There are cases where hospitals cannot afford due to cost. Disaster base hospitals are“ the key to protecting lives ”and need to be supported locally. Instead of leaving the measures to the country or hospital, The understanding and support of local governments such as subsidies and deregulation is also important. ”(Doctor Koi)

The hospital is the “last bastion”

A hospital that serves as a regional medical base in the event of a large-scale disaster is the “last fort” that protects our lives.

However, every time a large-scale disaster occurs, power outages and water outages occur, and many lives are actually in danger.

The danger is the same for the “Greater Tokyo Earthquake”, which is expected to occur with a high probability of 70% within the next 30 years.

In addition, issues remain such as how to secure water in hospitals without groundwater and small hospitals with no financial capacity.

There is no easy solution, but I felt strongly that discussions on countermeasures were needed not only in hospitals but also in countries, local governments, and regions in order to make use of lessons learned from past disasters to prepare for the future.

Social Department reporter Yuki Uchiyama

Joined in 2011 Saitama Broadcasting Station Osaka Station from 2018