Japan's declining birthrate and aging population are advancing at a rapid pace, and the number of young and middle-aged people who should be playing a central role in supporting the evacuation of the elderly is decreasing, making support even more difficult. Therefore, it is necessary to be able to ensure safety for individuals even in an unavoidable situation when evacuation support cannot be received, but in the case of elder people, there are various problems due to social, environmental and physical factors. Meanwhile, in recent years, from the viewpoint of linking disaster prevention and welfare, the number of areas that support the evacuation of vulnerable people in the event of disasters are increasing. Unlike existing studies that provide direct support when evacuating, the purpose of this study was to clarify the factors that can be incorporated into the care plan, including how the care managers are involved in daily lives, so that vulnerable people such as the elderly can evacuate on their own. Therefore, in this study, we measured the evacuation speed and observed an evacuation drill conducted in Kainan City, and examined them separately into four phases: preparation, evacuation start time, evacuation action time, and evacuation spare time.
As a result, it was found that non-structural support such as physical training should be reflected in the care plan, excluding structural support such as installation of handrails and installation of individual receivers. During evacuation drills, vulnerable people tend to have anxiety about physical factors, and in order to eliminate this, it is considered necessary to conduct training aimed at maintaining and improving physical strength.
In addition, welfare personnel such as care managers who are closely involved on a daily basis not only directly support the evacuation behavior of the elderly in the event of a disaster, but also support in preparation phase, such as recognition, initial response behavior, and the selection of evacuation means and evacuation routes. It is considered necessary for supporters to participate in evacuation drills with vulnerable people.
In the future, it will be necessary to verify whether maintaining and improving the physical strength of vulnerable people through training will lead to improved evacuation safety. Further research will be focusing on the evacuation ability of vulnerable people based on local welfare and disaster prevention.
