2010 Volume 32 Issue 3 Pages 328-337
In previous years, due to changes in global climate, natural disaster has damaged vulnerable people’s lives and properties annually nationwide in Japan. We conducted a questionnaire survey to long term care insurance facilities. There are 7,680 such facilities in Japan and 27.9% of them returned answer sheets. The results show that 10.2% of those facilities are damaged by natural disasters. Natural disaster has affected the elderly people in the facilities very seriously. Victimized facilities show a higher score of standard deviate, earthquake: 5.36, typhoon: 4.28 are higher than non-victimized score of 2.61.
From this research, it became clear that every facility needs awareness-raising to prepare the prevention system from natural disaster. The most important solution is to ensure that the elderly have both evacuation assistance and medical care needs delivered rapidly and safely. Moreover, the elderly have to be aware of the importance of obtaining information about daily care system and emergency medical care at the time when natural disaster hits their facilities. Long-term care facilities have to be upgraded through proper equipment and systems.
This research attempts to examine disaster prevention influenced by natural disaster experience in long-term care facilities.
