Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to interpret the self-report accounts of municipal employees about the body recovery and management work and related feelings impressed upon them six months after the tsunami caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake through a qualitative descriptive study.
Method: We individually interviewed 23 municipal employees on the situation they faced in the wake of the disaster and the things that left the most profound impression on them.
Results: Of the 262 coded responses on the emergency tasks performed by the municipal employees, only 21 were related to the work. Three kinds of body recovery and management work were recounted, such as transport for about one month, placement for about two months, and burial and cremation of bodies for about three months following the disaster. The feelings about each work were, sequentially “Beyond recollection/Hopeless,” “Spiritually attacked/Hurts,” and “Perplexity due to paralysis of function.”
Conclusion: Employees talked about resourceful acts in detail and expanded upon prospects for future initiatives for emergency shelters and aid deliveries, whereas the work was described only in a piecemeal manner and with hesitation. The body recovery and management work were grim tasks unfamiliar to these municipal employees, who were obliged to perform them without any preparation. We now need to deepen our understanding of such situations, which can occur in emergencies, if we are to prepare for such eventualities.
