Abstract
The purpose of this study is to analyze the characteristics of victims resulting from evacuation during heavy rainfall disasters. I developed a victim data base for heavy rainfall disaster events in Japan from 1999 to 2020, and 1,465 victims were classified. In this report, “evacuation” means moving from one's home to another place in order to avoid danger. Of the 1,465 victims, 132 were estimated to have been evacuated, including 84 victims who were affected during the evacuation, 24 victims who were affected at the evacuation place, and 17 victims who were affected after leaving the evacuation place. There were no victims who were affected by the disaster at public shelter designated by the municipalities. There were at least 18 victims whose evacuation place was in disaster risk area. They may have misjudged where to evacuate. Of the
victims who were estimated to have evacuated, there were at least 69 whose homes did not collapse as a result. However, all of these houses were located in disaster risk areas, and it cannot be said that they would have been better off not evacuating. Evacuation from one's home is not always the best course of action, but must be appropriate to the location and situation.
