Research on toilet situation/malodor in the affected areas at the time of Kumamoto earthquake

Abstract

We conducted a research on the toilet situation/malodor in the affected areas at the time of the Kumamoto earthquake. The odor level around outdoor temporary toilets depends on the cleanliness, but in general, it was low or an odor intensity of approximately 2 for flush toilets regardless of toilets being Japanese or Western style. On the other hand, malodor easily occurred with dry toilets when there was no gate valve in the storage tank for human waste. The Japanese type of toilet bowl easily becomes dirty and imposes a burden on cleaning workers, whereas the Western type becomes less dirty but must be defined for gender.

Because toilet preparation at the time of disaster has become increasingly more important, we proposed a method of reducing toilet malodor for affected areas in the future.