2012 Volume 63 Issue 4 Pages 214-226
This manuscript presents analysis of damage on medical institutions by the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and its consequent tsunami in Iwate Prefecture and Miyagi Prefecture in 2011.
Results reveal the following facts:clinics in the southern Sanriku region of Iwate Prefecture, Sanriku region and northern part of Sendai bay region in Miyagi Prefecture, where built-up areas are located near the shore, were inundated in numerous cases. Hospitals were flooded at a higher rate in Miyagi Prefecture where small-scale municipal hospitals and private hospitals are distributed along the coast, than in Iwate Prefecture, where large-scale prefectural hospitals were built at elevated locations. Particularly, the inundation ratios of both clinics and hospitals were high in the Sanriku region of Miyagi Prefecture, which resulted in “medical vacancies”. Victims and patients who were unable to receive medical aid in disaster-affected areas were transported to adjoining cities and towns. Case study of Minami-Sanriku Town in Miyagi Prefecture indicates that inpatient acceptance was limited because of bed shortages, although numerous trauma patients were accepted as outpatients in adjoining Tome City. This fact implies that operations of medical systems degraded from their ordinary condition can have increased vulnerability in time of the disaster.
