Please let me know the hazard map at least 16:33 on December 6

Some women had to stay at home even if a message to evacuate arrived on their mobile phone due to heavy rain in western Japan.

"What to do if you fall on the way" "If a tree is blocking the road"

After that, the woman called out to face the disaster during heavy rain hitting various places. The woman who wants to know the hazard map was a visually impaired person.

(Hiroshima station reporter Yasue Tsuji)

That day I had no choice but to stay home

Kure City, Hiroshima Prefecture, where 28 people were killed during the heavy rain in western Japan last July, including deaths related to disasters.

Noriko Kamakura (71) who lives alone in this town was spending the same day as he was almost crushed by the voice of his mobile phone.

“Evacuation information from Kure City”

A sound to inform you that evacuation advisories have been issued one after another in the city. However, it is dangerous for the visually handicapped person to go outside.

"If the usual road in my head looks different"
"Maybe it's flooded"
“What if a tree is blocking the road?”
"If you slip and fall ..."

Given that, there was no choice but to stay home.

Noriko Kamakura “My phone rings many times, but I can't see the screen, and I feel a sense of pressure. It ’s scary and timid, but I ca n’t evacuate in this rain.

It's scary to be different

In Kamakura, retinitis pigmentosa has worsened rapidly over the past 10 years. The field of view becomes extremely narrow and the vision is only faint.

Since UV rays are bad for your eyes, when you go out, wear sunglasses and shake the white cane to the left and right, and carefully walk while checking obstacles and steps.

"There is a curve here"
"There is a guardrail"
"Here you can go along the gutter lid"

The road and the location of the building are usually in my head, but if the road conditions change or the car stops due to heavy rain, the scenery in my head will turn into an unknown world.

Even if you can evacuate ...

There was another reason why Mr. Kamakura hesitated to evacuate.

Noriko Kamakura “You are all lying in the shelter. When you want to go to the bathroom in the middle of something like that, it ’s very easy to sew between you and swing the white cane to the left and right. It ’s difficult, because everyone is in trouble, and I thought I could n’t say “Please” about me. I thought it ’d be better to stay home. ”

“Zero” people evacuated

Late October, 3 months after the heavy rain in western Japan.
Mr. Kamakura was a meeting of the visually impaired association and asked 17 members whether they had evacuated during heavy rain.
The number of people who evacuated was “zero”.
Then, he complained of anxiety about evacuating like himself.

“Even if you are told to evacuate, it ’s difficult to go out, but you ca n’t go to the shelter alone.”

“Even if you evacuate, it ’s difficult to go to the bathroom, and volunteers are n’t sure if you ’re in a heavy rain disaster.

“Please let me know at least the hazard map”

After that, typhoons and heavy rains continued throughout Japan. Mr. Kamakura heard a word from TV and radio.

“As in the hazard map”
“If you look at the hazard map, you can see the danger.”

Mr. Kamakura usually remembers the map necessary for his life as a memory.
I was worried about the map I had never seen.

"Please let me know at least the hazard map"

As thoughts and worries about evacuation were raised, I thought that knowing the hazard map would be an opportunity to take a step forward from the current situation.

Attempt to read map

Relying on was a group of reading volunteers. Usually, I read books and news from the municipal government and record them on CDs for the visually impaired.

Representative Naomi Yamamoto was confused when asked by Kamakura to read the hazard map.

Naomi Yamamoto "I thought I couldn't read what's shown in the picture. However, while talking to Ms. Kamakura, I felt" I'm eager "and it was related to life and I had to do it thought"

Mr. Yamamoto thought about what information on the hazard map to convey, and decided to read three areas: the state of the area where he lives, whether his home is dangerous, and the nearby shelter.

Then, we looked at the homes of about 40 members of the Visually Impaired Persons Association on a residential map and dropped them into a hazard map.

After that, I recorded it on CD so that I could understand the dangers of each person's home and mailed it to the members' homes.

By the way, the hazard map is like this when it is voiced.

“The east area is almost a landslide disaster caution area. Around 6-6 Nishimachi is a landslide disaster caution area. The closest shelter is the Minami Elementary School. However, in case of a landslide disaster, evacuate to the 2nd floor or higher.” (* The district name is fictitious)

The first “heard” hazard map

In August, Mr. Kamakura heard the hazard map for the first time.
Although my home was not in the landslide area, I found that many members live in dangerous areas.

Noriko Kamakura “If you know that this is dangerous, you have a different mindset and a different way of evacuating. I thought it was scary not to know. I wonder if I was able to poke my evacuation switch a little. "

Members of the Visually Impaired Association also heard this hazard map.
It seemed to start thinking a little more about evacuating.

A visually handicapped man, “My home and the surroundings were explained by the fact that there was a steep slope nearby, so it was very helpful and helpful.”

A visually handicapped woman, “I thought it was okay, but when I heard what you read, I thought about preparing for it.”

Help with evacuation The reality that public support does not advance

Is public support going on for people who need help with evacuation, like Kamakura-san?

The government revised the Disaster Countermeasures Basic Act after many people with disabilities and the elderly were sacrificed by the Great East Japan Earthquake and compiled the names and addresses of “supporters” in each local government from 2014 Mandatory to create a directory.

Kama City, where Mr. Kamakura lives, has also created a "Responsible Supporter List" and passes it to residents' associations, police and fire departments, and local welfare officers.

There are approximately 2400 people registered in the “Supporters List” in the city, and Kamakura is one of them.

However, nobody contacted Kamakura during last year's heavy rain in West Japan or the typhoon.

Some members of the Kure City Visually Impaired Association said that they said, “Please evacuate, but you couldn't evacuate because you couldn't do it alone.”

When I asked the person in charge in Kure City, the answer was "There are almost no individual plans for when to contact who and how to support evacuation."

The local government plans to develop a specific plan that describes specific evacuation methods for each supporter, but the local government is expected to cooperate with the residents' association and the voluntary disaster prevention association. There is a reality that does not advance. This is an issue that is faced not only by Kure City but by many local governments nationwide.

Kure City Crisis Management Division “If you can evacuate if you lend a shoulder, we want you to help each other in the area, but support for people who can not move at all is limited in the area. Leave all support for the disabled and elderly to the area I am desperately thinking about what to do. "

I want you to listen to the serious thoughts of the visually impaired

"Please let me know at least the hazard map"

The keen wish that Kamakura and his colleagues finally voiced is asking us about the reality that people who need assistance for evacuation were placed in a country where disasters occur frequently.

Noriko Kamakura “This is the first step in sending information to people who are visually impaired, even if it is a little. In the uneasy situation at the time of a disaster, it is true that I can't care about people. I think it ’s a bit of a pain, but if you listened to a little bit of the words, “The people with visual impairments were like this when there was a heavy rain disaster” I ’m glad you ’re happy. ”

Hiroshima Station reporter Yasue Tsuji