Study of Community Support in Evacuation Shelters Based on Digital Divide

Abstract

In the case of wide area disasters, evacuation shelters as reconstruction bases are left to the voluntary operation by local residents. However, due to the difficulty of forming a well-integrated community in a disaster, the operation of evacuation shelters often does not go well. In recent years, the possibility of community support by information services are being studied because of the quick and stable usage of them even immediately after the disaster. Especially, information gathering activities such as making evacuees roster can be a clue to form the foundation of human relationship building through self-disclosure in dialogue. However, the age range of evacuees in disasters is so wide, that there is a digital divide among users in handling information services. In this research, we propose a new information gathering method that provides a cue for community formation by assisting other evacuees to collect information on those who cannot use mobile devices.