The Environment for Communication to Activate Elderly People in a Disaster-affected Area

A Case Study in the Northern Area of Kamaishi City, Iwate Prefecture

Abstract

In disaster-affected areas, lots of elderly people are said to reduce their frequency to go out due to the change of living environment. In such areas, it is necessary to provide environment for communication to activate them so that they can keep good health. For this purpose, in Kamaishi city, a new public transportation service, Demand Responsive Transport, was introduced after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, whose effect is found limited so far. Therefore, to clarify the environment to activate elderly people and to verify its effects, we conducted a semi-structured interview survey and suggested two ways to activate them by relieving their sense of