Title
Natural Disasters and the Elderly in Japan: Minsei-iins' efforts
to Establish Relationships with the Elderly in their
Communities
Author(s)
NISHIO, Atsushi
Citation
沖縄大学人文学部紀要 = Journal of the Faculty of
Humanities and Social Sciences(13): 49-63
Issue Date
2011-03-31
URL
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12001/9632
M>*8*¥A£*SMag 3513^ 2011
Natural Disasters and the Elderly in Japan:
Minsei-iins' efforts to Establish Relationships with
the Elderly in their Communities
Atsushi NISHIO
Keywords: PSND (persons with special needs in times of disaster), Minsei-iin
(unpaid semi-public social workers), PIE (persons in environment),
natural disaster, climate change
1 Introduction
The global population of the elderly is rising dramatically - especially in regions
that experience higher risks of natural disasters. The occurrence of more natural disas
ters in an ageing world means that there would be the elderly in jeopardy (WHO,
2008). This study examines how the elderly fare in natural disasters and promotes the
participation and security of the elderly before, during, and after an emergency in
Japan, especially during the emergency preparedness phase.
The Minsei-iin system was founded in 1917, and celebrated its 90th anniversary in
2007. Minsei-iin are unpaid, semi-public social workers who play a crucial role in the
provision and distribution of social welfare services in their assigned districts, based
on the Minsei-iin law enacted in 1947. In 2007, over 227,000 Minsei-iin, generally re
tirees, who were mostly 60 or older (78.3%, 2006), helped to deal with social problems
that were faced by the elderly, the poor, the disabled, and single-parent families.
In 2006 the National Federation of Minsei-iin launched a national campaign to
maintain daily contact with the elderly on a daily basis, as a preparatory step in case
of disasters. Minsei-iin conducted a campaign of widespread activities such as getting
information of living conditions of Persons with Special Needs in times of Disaster
(PSND), securing personal information about the elderly, establishing a concrete system
to support evacuation of PSND, and confirming their whereabouts and safety.
(1) Background of this study - climate change and social structural change
The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake occurred on January 17, 1995. This 7.3 mag
nitude quake caused tremendous damage in the southern part of Hyogo prefecture and
neighboring areas. The death toll was about 6,400, and numbers injured were around
44,000. Almost half of the dead were the elderly. Moreover, since 1995, the proportion
of the elderly being injured in natural disasters has been gradually increasing.
wm*?-AxmiK.m m m 2011
Misei-iin's activities proved to be effective in decreasing casualties among the elderly. Other natural disasters, such as torrential rainfall, typhoons, floods, and land-slides have occurred frequently. In recent years, natural disasters have increased and have taken a heavier toll on Japan than in the past.
Ten out of 11 victims who lost their lives as a result of Niigata-Chuetsu Offshore Earthquake on July 16, 2007, were persons aged 65 or older. According to the damage report of the heavy snow fall of 2006, 98 persons aged 65 or older were killed, which
accounted for about two-thirds of the total snow-fall related deaths.
The Cabinet Office of the Government of Japan set up a task force of experts to
study how the government could help in the evacuation of PSND. In March 2005, the
committee compiled and issued a "Guideline of Evacuation Support Procedures for PSND," a report that helped municipalities address evacuation support for PSND.
The damages caused by recent natural disasters have two distinctive characteristics. First, the frequency of torrential rainfall in the last 10 years has increased consid
erably, and according to data of the Japan Meteorological Agency, the amount of rain
fall during torrential rains is increasing. In the last 10 years, Japan has received 100 mm or more rain per hour, 2.3 times more often than the average rainfall in one hour
over the past 30 years (chart 1.).
1977-1986 1987-1996 1997-2006
Chart 1. The 100 mm or over rainfall in one hour (Cabinet Office, 2007)
In 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a synthe
sis report based on the assessment carried out by the working groups. ThiB report provides an integrated view of climate change as the final part of the IPCC's Fourth
Assessment Eeport (AR4) and indicates that the climate system's warming is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of the increase in global average air and
50-NISHIO : Natural Disasters and the Elderly in Japan
ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and an increase in the global average sea levels. The report also points out that the climate change could affect on some of the poorest and most vulnerable communities in the world (IPCC, 2007).
Headlines of the plight of the elderly during the European heat wave of 2003 and Hurricane Katrina in the USA in 2005 shocked the world. In developing countries, however, their situation is generally less widely-known, and their needs and contribu tions have been largely invisible. In order to respond to these situations, the World Health Organization commissioned case studies in 2006-2007 to examine how the eld erly fared in conflict-related and naturally caused emergencies in both developed and developing countries — war, drought, heat wave, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsu namis, ice storms, wild fires, and nuclear power plant explosions (WHO, 2008).
Actual Itgirts Ithousnnd persons) 7000 IWIU IW? 1"W0 1W3 2000 Pmjev'lei! figures 010 2315 2020 202S
Chart 2. Trends of the Elderly Living Alone (Cabinet Office, 2005)
Second, social structural changes, including family and community change in an aging society with a declining birthrate have also affected the impact that natural dis asters have. In Japan, the number of the elderly living alone has doubled in the last 10 years. The number of the elderly living alone will continue to increase in the fu ture, and so will the percentage of the elderly living alone. Today, one out of five older women lives alone, and the number of older males living alone are expected to rise tremendously in the future.
ftm*& *.*&&«& a s m 2011
(2) Purpose of the study
'The national campaign proposed and launched by the National Federation of
Minsei-iin could be characterized as a eountermeasure against the damages that the elderly
experience from natural disasters resulting from the global climate changes and local
social structural changes in Japan.
This study attempts to classify the potentiality and tasks of Minsei-iin by analyzing the survey conducted by the National Federation of Minsei-iin during the national campaign in 2007. We examine the Minsei-iin's activities, such as home visits, map ping, and community development conducted in the national campaign. In addition,
the study examines how the Minsei-iin's activities could contribute to the reconstruc
tion of human relationships in communities and enhance the lives of the elderly with
respect to their dignity and security.
2 An outline of Minsei-iin's national campaign
At the beginning of the national campaign by Minsei-iin in April 2005, the planning
committee for the 90 th anniversary memorial projects of the National Federation of
Minsei-iin decided to tackle issues of preventing disaster damages. In August 2005, the committee decided on the catch phrase for the movements of "Don't miss one person,
without exception" and compiled the campaign's guidelines. National Federation then
requested that each prefectural or municipal association participate in this campaign
movement.
(1) The aim of campaign
Minsei-iin realized that during natural disasters it is critical for neighboring resi
dents to assist with the evacuation of the elderly and the disabled who cannot move by themselves in order to save their own lives. Therefore, Minsei-iin across the nation
decided that they should keep a careful watch over the elderly living alone, the dis abled or families with little children, by maintaining contact with them on a daily
basis, establishing a concrete system to support their evacuation, and confirming their
whereabouts and safety. In addition, by learning about the needs of people and estab lishing a total community system for inquiring about their health and safety, and an education system for preventing disaster damages, the Minsei-iin establish safety com
munity development cooperation with a variety of community agencies and organiza
tions.
(2) Promoter : National Federation of Minsei-iin
(3) Term of promotion: April 2006 to September 2007. 3 Analysis of the survey on the national campaign (1) An outline of the survey
The survey on this national campaign was conducted on March 1, 2007 by the
NISHO : Natural Disasters and the Elderly in Japan
National Federation of Minsei-iin. It targeted (l) the legal-based units of Minsei-iin as
sociations, (2) the municipality-based associations, and (3) prefectural-based associations
(National Federation of Minsei-iin, 2007).
We examined the outcome of this survey, focusing especially on the 9,935 legal-based units of associations all over Japan. The survey received 7,327 responses (73.6%).
1 Implementation of the campaign programs
responses number %
1. Carried out 4,460 60.9%.
2. Did not carry out 2,005 27.4%.
3. Other 862 11.8%
total 7,327 100.0%
The district units that carried out the implementation of the program make up
about 60 percent. This indicated the gaps among the units.
The following outcome of the survey totaled 5,322 answers including yes and other.
2 Groups or agencies with which Minsei-iin associations cooperated
responses number %
1. Municipality administrations 1,084 63.0%
2. Social welfare councils organized in each munici
pality 851 49.4%
3. Fire departments 505 29.3%
4. Fire prevention civil corps 438 25.4%
5. Autonomous organizations for the prevention of
disaster 741 43.0%
6. Neighborhood associations 1,262 73.3%
7. Schools 322 18.7%
8. (Parents Teachers Association) PTA Federations 147 8.5%
9. Comprehensive community support centers for the
elderly 330 19.2%
10. Home caring support centers 171 9.9%
11. Police departments 217 12.6%.
12. Volunteer groups 220 12.8%.
13. Non profit organizations 25 1.0%
14. Community centers 394 22.9%
15. Others 93 5.4%
total 1,722 100.0%
Most cooperative partners are neighborhood associations (73.3%), followed by munici
palities (63.0%), social welfare councils (49.4%), and autonomous organizations for the
N'«A*A£¥8MaE mi3H 2011
3 Outcome of the activities
responses number %
1. Public Relations for community residents 1,593 34.6%
2. Deepening feeling of trust with community resi
dents 1,020 22.1%
3. Helping community residents to have sense of
security 1,779 38.6%
4. Enhancing community residents' consciousness of
the need to prepare for natural disasters 1,183 25.7% 5. Establishing system for natural disasters 508 11.0%
6. Public Relations for community agencies and groups 934 20.3%
7. Enhancing relationships with community agen
cies and groups 1,372 29.8%
8. Enhancing bonds or ties with community agen
cies and groups 868 18.8%
9. Enhancing sense of solidarity among Minsei-iins 2,718 59.0%
10. Acquiring more information and knowledge on
natural disasters 3,678 79.8%
11. Strengthening the abilities for tackling with
natural disasters 1,642 35.6%
12. Strengthening the understanding of ways of treat
ing or managing ways of personal information 2,047 44.4%
13. Knowing more about PSND 2,046 44.4%
14. Others 127 2.8%
total 4,607 100.0%
This survey revealed that 79.8% of Minsei-iin associations felt that they had ac quired more information and knowledge on natural disasters. Moreover, 59.0% felt they had enhanced sense of solidality among Minsei-iins, and 44.4% felt they were strengthening the understanding of ways to handle personal information.
The attitude survey on Minsei-iin's activities that was conducted in 2006 shows that most of the Minsei-iin's worries and difficulties involved dealing with the privacy of residents. Comparing these results of two surveys, we found that preparing activities for natural disasters was considerably effective during the daily Minsei-iin activities (National Federation of Minsei-iin, 2006).
The same survey showed 47.8% of newly appointed Minsei-iin and 20.7% of experi
enced Minsei-iin felt that it was difficult to contact the PSND. The answers about the
outcomes of the activities such as knowing more about PSND (44.4%) and helping community residents to have a sense of security (38.6%) in the survey on national campaign indicated that the national campaign made it easier for Minsei-iin to com
municate with PSND.
NISHJO : Natural Disasters and the Elderly in Japan
4 Case studies on activities of the national campaign
The national survey collected the examples of activities which could be categorized into the following four types.
(1) Home visiting for learning about the living conditions of PSND (2) A Concrete system for sharing the personal information (3) Making and using maps
(4) Self-help group activities - developing places where people feel like they belonging
(1) Home visiting for learning about the living conditions of PSND
Minsei-iin associations across Japan acquired this information in a variety of ways, despite the difficulties inherent home-visiting activities. Three examples of different programs are noted below.
In Fukuda-kita district, Yamato City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Minsei-iin distributed a newspaper called "Good Health Mail" which was directed at the elderly who lived alone or needed supports. This newspaper, issued four times a year, contained news such as information on long-term care services or warnings about unscrupulous busi ness practices. These newspapers are delivered by post to resident's mailboxes. The characteristics of these newspapers are that a Minsei-iin writes the names of the eld erly and a message by hand. Via this personalized newspaper, Minsei-iin created chances to visit home of the elderly. The newspapers also send the message that the Minsei-iin will always be with them.
Minsei-iin association in Kiyose City, Tokyo metropolitan, drew up a leaflet entitled "Preparing for a natural disaster-' Would you give us information about yours." This brochure provided information on preparing for natural disasters, along with a map of an evacuation route, the place of evacuation, and the profiles of each Minsei-iin indi viduals. Minsei-iin mailed the leaflets to the houses of the elderly aged 65 to 74, but personally visited and handed the leaflet to the elderly aged 75 or over. It is interest ing to note that although it is frequently pointed out that home visiting activities are
difficult in urban areas, in Kiyose, Minsei-iin seldom experienced rejection of their home visits.
In order to learn the living condition of PSND, the individual questionnaire survey could be effective. The Minsei-iin association in Komaki City, Aichi Prefecture, con ducted their questionnaire survey mainly focusing on the elderly who lived alone.
Minsei-iin personally visited each home of the elderly and interviewed 764 the elderly. This survey showed that 88% of the elderly contacted their kinships or relatives peri
odically, 56% have close friends in their community, and 32% exchange greetings with
neighbors. It is noteworthy that 19% do not have people with whom they consult in
their neighborhood.
The fact that only 27% of respondents did not take preventive actions such as turn ing over the furniture and that only 55% knew their own evacuation places, indicates the necessity for improving preventative measures. Of the respondents, 81% knew the
WttA^AX^EieS S13*J 2011
name and contact address of Minsei-iin, and 63% wanted the help of Minsei-iin in an
emergency. Almost all the elderly trust the Minsei-iin.
Some interviewees expressed anxiety by saying, "I know the evacuation place but
it's too far." or "I have disabilities so I'm anxious about experiencing a natural
disaster." They also stated other worries that were not related to natural disasters
such as concerns about public assistance, the deterioration of houses, and requests to leave their apartments. In the free description columns of the survey, there was also a lot of gratitude expressed by the interviewees for Minsei-iin's daily activities. Other voices expressed things such as "I have worries and want to consult someone," and
"We need more home visiting." Although Minsei-iin started this survey intending to
study on the elderly's preparedness for a natural disaster, the outcome of this survey
showed a variety of the needs of the elderly.
(2) A concrete system for learning about the living conditions of PSND
It is difficult for Minsei-iin who do not have any authority, to acquire personal infor
mation about PSND with cooperation from other agencies and organizations so that they can make their lists.
In March 2006, the Cabinet Office compiled the task force committee's "Guideline for
Evacuation of PSND." This guideline showed that collecting and sharing information about PSNDs on a daily basis, is crucial and inevitable for developing an evacuation
support system. The methods of learning the information were classified into three
types: (l) sharing information with relevant agencies, (2) people's voluntary application
for the registration system, and (3) registration with people's informed consent(Cabinet Office, 2006).
The "Guideline for Evacuation of PSND" recommended that municipal governments
should use methods for the sharing information with relevant agencies combined with
other methods.
In 2004, Anjo City, Aichi Prefecture, started a registration support system for PSND
with people's informed consent. In Japan, the number of municipalities tackling this
kind of registration system for PSND is currently increasing. Anjo City is the leading municipality that administers this system.
This system is running by some relevant agencies including municipalities, residents associations, Minsei-iin or welfare organizations. The process is as follows.
First, Anjo City sets registration targets for (l) people with physical disabilities, (2) people with intellectual disabilities, (3) the elderly living alone, (4) bedridden or
senile the elderly, and (5) the elderly who need care services in their homes.
Second, the city hands out lists of people who fall into categories (l)-(4) to Minsei-iin. Then Minsei-iin visit the homes of each person on the lists and urge them to reg ister for this system that prepares for natural disasters. Although the consenting percentage of people to whom Minsei-iin recommend this system reached 79%, the per centage of consent for people in category 5 who learned about the system only from a letter sent by the city was only 22%.
NISHIO : Natural Disasters and the Elderly in Japan
Third, for each registered PSND, the "evacuation supporters" were chosen among neighborhood residents, Minsei-iin and volunteers. The PSND gave consent that then-personal information could be shared among disaster prevention organizations, a few neighborhood association boards, Minsei-iin, and the evacuation supporters with confi dentiality.
In relation with this system, Minsei-iin initiated the home-visiting activities with the leaders of neighborhood associations or senior citizen associations. Although the home visiting is one of the basic activities of Minsei-iin, as for their daily activities, they or dinarily hand over some documents to residents from the municipality at the front door and they could not know the actual information about their living conditions. The residents registered in this system are prepared for home-visit interviews and know what it is for. Because they are prepared they will likely have set aside time so that they can have an unrushed conversation in their living room in a relaxed atmosphere. During these home visits, Minsei-iin can also check for items such as furniture that would topple over during a natural disaster. Minsei-iin also hear about daily living needs of the elderly and can be a confidant if the elderly would like to consult them regarding their problems.
The registration system in Anjo City is a public system coordinated by municipality. But this system does not need a building, nor is it accompanied by a financial burden. What this system does need, however, is the indispensable cooperation of its residents. This system is constructed within a public framework that will only be activated by people's participation and Minsei-iin's coordination. The efforts of private and/or public sector members of community social welfare councils developed these programs. It is important to organize the people's wishes and voices and build concrete systems.
(3) Making and using the maps
The national survey showed that almost half of the district units of Minsei-iin asso ciations made lists of PSND, and 27.4% of them made hazard maps.
The effectiveness of such an emergency map, which included PSND information, was proven in Monzen district, Wajirna City, Ishikawa Prefecture when the Noto. Peninsula Earthquake hit the area in March 2007. In the Noto Peninsula Earthquake, one per son died, 27 were severely wounded, and 291 were slightly injured, and 609 houses were totally destroyed, 1.368 were half destroyed, and 12,323 were partly destroyed.
The Monzen district in Wajima City was severely damaged by this earthquake. The Minsei-iin unit in Monzen district helped the elderly evacuate and they confirmed
whereabouts and safety of PSNDs immediately after the earthquake. In this case,
Minsei-iin could speed up the evacuation because they used the PSND safety map that they prepared before the earthquake during their daily home-visiting activities. The safety map included positional information about the elderly living alone, older couple households and people with disabilities. These categories were classified on the map by color and the map was periodically updated through home-visiting activities. Another reason the evacuation went smoothly was because the evacuation drill including
twwc*AX*«iBs mm 2011
safety-inquiring activities had been practiced earlier and furthermore, the evacuation
of people with disabilities to a safe place had been carried out in the year prior to the
earthquake.
This case study shows that the process of mapping, including home-visiting, learning PSND information, and evacuation drills is very important during an emergency.
These maps also helped organizations and agencies to share information. The ease of
sharing this information also increases the information's vulnerability to violation of privacy, A system that ensure that the private records are kept confidential and han
dled carefully must be developed. Rules must be in place to describe how information
can be shared.
Mapping activities with mutual works and supports in communities were tackled in many areas.. People willing to volunteer exist in all communities, but most residents
do not know what, how, and where they could participate in such activities. Mapping
is one of the methods to find these willing people and to clarify their function and un cover the potential power of hidden human resources.
(4) Self-help group activities: developing places where people feel like they belong
The Minsei-iin association in Haito-Kasuga district, Mima City, Tokushima Prefecture, practiced Haito safety and relief station activities. In July 2004 a prevention disaster organization was established in Haito-Kasuga district.
This prevention for disaster council aimed to improve community safety development as well as the self-realization of community residents. The council organizes (1) self
prevention associations, (2) self-help group activities aiming at promoting self-realization, (3) small community networks, and (4) watch patrol.
Self-help group activities have a variety of programs including dining, health promo tion activities and some recreation programs run by volunteers, the elderly, people
with disabilities, and community residents. The Minsei-iin association developed a small community network which was able to quickly assess the PSNDs needs and problems and support activities for PSND. The watching patrol was practiced in after school safety patrol.
These community activities not only proved that Minsei-iin could find community re sources, such as talented people willing to coordinate community activities, but also raised the people's consciousness regarding the prevention for natural disasters. One of the participants in the self-help group said, "I could not meet you if the group didn't exist." These disaster preventing activities strengthened resident's cohesion with one another within their community.
5 Lessons learned by national campaign movements
•
So far, we have examined the state of the national campaign movement and some characteristic efforts by several local associations. We learned precious lessons from
Minsei-iins' efforts.
N1SHJ.O : Natural Disasters and the Elderly in Japan
Although Minsei-iin have always had difficulties with their daily activities, such as organizing home visits, and dealing with personal information, and sharing the anxiety of natural disasters with the residents, their efforts are worthwhile because they have the potential to open a gate of communication with their community residents. This suggests, paradoxically, that in order to create a good relationship, it is important to prepare for an emergency.
Respecting one's privacy and the protection of personal information is an important human right to advocate, and yet, at the same time, this could force people into isola tion and solitude. The survey's outcome indicates that we should respect not only the individual, but also that person's relationship to his or her social environment. We should respect a person's dignity and decisions and, at the same time, we should not force people into isolation.
The national campaign movement has found that the aim of this movement's origi nal concept emerged from activities 90 years ago as follows.
(1) Communication-centered home visiting activities
We found out from previous case studies that there were no sure-fire remedies or completely new efforts. It is important for us to organize some practices and generalize the some efforts. One of the important concepts based on these practices is a tradi tional communication-centered home-visiting activity.
Ninety years ago, Shigejiro Ogawa proposed Homen-iin, or district commissioner, one of the original Minsei-iin systems and stated, "The main purpose is communication. By communication-based home visiting we could know and grasp the situation of people's living conditions naturally." He also said, "It is not merely investigation. The by products of home visiting are naturally changing to investigation." (Matsunohana, 1994)
The fact that the survey showed that the approval rate of the registration system reached 79% because of Minsei-iin's home visits in Anjo City, proves the importance and effectiveness of communication-centered home visiting.
(2) The "Persons In Environment" perception
Self-help group activities were founded in many areas across Japan in order to pre pare for natural disasters. Despite its focus, these activities established new relation* ships between members.
These community development activities, originated from the "Saisei-Komon" system of a relief community that was founded in 1816 in Okayama Prefecture. The first ar ticle of community relief system guideline states that the system's programs promote the prevention of poverty with the aim of not to give aids to the poor, but to prevent from poverty from the beginning. The system intended to do this by eliminating per sonal and social causes of poverty among the mentally and physically disabled. The founder of this system, Governor Shinichi Kasai, stated "Society is organized by per sons. In order to help a person we should help the surrounding environment because he/she is a person in the environment." This relief community system included many
#«A-¥AX«SSE« 3513ft 2011
efforts, including daycare for children, and consultations with mothers regarding
children's health. The aim of this system was to organize community actions in rural
a r e a s .
The definition of social work in the International Federation of Social Worker (IFSW
2000) is stated as follows. "Utilizing theories of human behavior and social systems,
social work intervenes at the points where people interact with their environments.Social work in its various forms addresses the multiple, complex transactions between
people and their environments." The definition represents the "Persons In Environment"(PIE) perception and are also similar to the original concept of the "Saisei-komon" sys
tem that was developed 90 years ago.(3) Social action for actualization of Relief Act - offering opinion by Minsei-iin
In 1929 the Relief Act was enacted in Japan. It took three long years for the act,
which originated as a current public assistance law, to be processed from an enact ment in the Diet to an enforceable law.For this law's progress toward enforcement, "Homen-iin," the district commissioner across the nation did the promotion movement for quickly enforcement of the relief act.
The government's attitude at that time is represented by a comment made by the
Minister of Finance, Junosuke Inoue. He stated, "If the government enforced such a relief act, we would have a shortage of our government's financial resources." So thedistrict commissioner communicated with poor households on a daily basis and organ
ized the national organization for promotion of Relief Act and formed a gathering be
fore the Imperial Palace and reported the situation of the poor and the immediate need for the Relief Act.These social actions were supported by public opinion and demonstrated through the
mass media. Eventually, public sentiment moved the government and, at last, the gov
ernment actualized the act. This social action by Horaerriin was the origin of the na tional movement of the Minsei-iin.In 2007, the 90th anniversary of the Minsei-iin's campaign movement moved the government in a different way. On August 10, 2007, the welfare and labor ministry is
sued a written notice titled 'The smooth implementation of learning and sharing the
information about PSND" to- the chief welfare manager of each prefecture and each municipality. This notice explained the Minsei-iin's efforts for the movement in prepar ing natural disasters. It also stated that the Misei-iin's intended to carefully watchand support the lives of PSND and that the Misei-iin meant to build their network with other agencies, organizations, and community residents. The notice further stated
the municipalities' responsibilities with regards to learning and sharing the informa tion mentioned in the Cabinet Office guideline for PSND evacuation support. Then, the notice mentioned the national government's request that the local government to coop erate with the Minsei-iin associations or other agencies and organizations.
The 90th anniversary national movement caused people to questions as to what
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extent the public sector should cooperate with community organizations at a time when decentralization is promoted and policy making authority is often transferred to local government.
6 Conclusion
The natural disasters that have occurred in recent, years due to climate change have particularly affected the poor and seriously impacted the lives of the elderly. To mini mize the damage that these disasters inflict, the Minsei-iin national campaign pro posed some essential suggestions for important daily activities, such as community development or communication-based home-visiting activities. To develop its plan, Minsei-iin associations studied the origin of their community activities and discovered that these activities were based on the perception that persons live in their environ ment (PIE).
In Japanese society, people are having fewer children, and the bulk of the popula tion is rapidly aging. The depopulated areas, called "limited communities" are spread ing, not only in rural areas, but also in urban areas. These changing lifestyles of people are introducing new problems into our society. The difficulties being faced by Minsei-iin reflect those faced by Japanese society as a whole. The efforts to alleviate these difficulties may provide many suggestions for solving the problems, not only of
our society, but also of the global community.
The Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing points that the elderly can make
a positive contribution in coping with emergencies in promoting rehabilitation and re construction (United Nation, 2002).
Lessons learned from this survey suggest that the activities by Minsei-iin who are mostly the elderly themselves, could contribute to the reconstruction of human rela tionships in communities and enhance the lives of the elderly with respect to their dig nity and security. Further studies should be done on the values of the social function of Minsei-iin, which are still effective today.
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Cabinet Office (2006), White Paper on Aging Society 2006,
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!MI*<*ASS*«Hea 35l3tf 2011
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