KUMAMOTO, Japan – Many evacuees in Kumamoto city’s shelters said they cannot go back home due to fear of aftershocks and would prefer to remain in the shelters for a while, according to a survey conducted by the city.
Based on these results, the city government expects evacuees to stay in the shelters for a prolonged period and is working to improve the living conditions there.
Two weeks have passed since the first powerful earthquake hit Kumamoto Prefecture and the surrounding areas. More than 1,000 earthquakes have been recorded in the area and the tremors have not yet stopped. Kumamoto city has the largest number of evacuees among the areas hit by the Kumamoto Earthquake.
The survey was conducted on April 23-25 on the 37,362 evacuees who were living in the 247 shelters in the city as of the night of April 23. A total of 9,176 households, or 19,605 evacuees, responded to the survey.
Asked why they have evacuated from their homes, with multiple answers allowed, “fear of staying at home since aftershocks are still happening” accounted for the highest percentage of 69.5 percent, or 6,375 households.
Evacuees who said their “house was partially or totally destroyed” accounted for 14 percent, or 1,286 households.
Among evacuees who felt they could not return home even though they wanted to, 6,530 households answered questions about what they hoped for. Evacuees who wanted to “remain in the shelters for a while” accounted for 69 percent, or 4,507 households, while those who wanted to “move to any vacant house, such as municipality housing or privately owned housing” accounted for 22.7 percent, or 1,480 households.
Following the recovery of essential services, including the water supply, the city has seen a gradual decline in the number of evacuees living in the shelters. As of Thursday, however, about 17,000 evacuees were still staying in 231 shelters.
