◆October 15, 2011 "Learning from Current Situations of the Disaster Areas: What We Should Be Ready for," Shijonawate Social Welfare Community Center
◆October 1, 2011 "Facing Disasters: At the Time of Hanshin Awaji Earthquake, and Inviting Mr. Shiraishi Kiyoharu from Fukushima," The Annual Convention of Japan Society of Disability Studies, Aichi University, Nagoya
◆September 18, 2011 Symposium “How Did They Overcome the Earthquake and Blackout?: Inviting Patients with Intractable Diseases at Home and Users of Artificial Ventilators in Fukushima etc.," Heartpia Kyoto
◆GONDO Mayumi November 9, 2011 "Process of Formation of 'Welfare Shelter' and Proposal of Yumekaze Fund," Second Korea Japan Disability Studies Forum，Ritsumeikan University
◇Presentations at Domestic Societies
◆AOKI Chihoko July 31, 2011 "Disabled People's Movements after the Great East Japan Earthquake: Disabled People under Disaster Support," The Annual Convention of the Women's Studies Association of Japan, Nagoya
◆AOKI Chihoko & GONDO Mayumi October 1, 2011 "Process of Formation of 'Welfare Shelter'," The 8th Annual Convention of Japan Society of Disability Studies（Poster Presentation），Aichi University
◆ARIMATSU Ryo October 1, 2011 "The Great East Japan Earthquake and Policies for Disabled People: Fairness of Inequality," The 8th Annual Convention of Japan Society of Disability Studies（Poster Presentation），Aichi University
◇Others
◆ITO Kayoko & SATO Hiroko July 20, 2011 "Volunteer Report concerning a Survey of Temporary Housing at JDF Support Center for Disabled People in Fukushima"
◆SATO Hiroko September 2011 "People Left in 'Fukushima': Useless Temporary Housing even with Slope," Masukomi Shimin 2011-9:38-42
◆Research Task：Research on Life Problems of People with Disabilities and Diseases under Earthquake
◆Project Member *as of Academic Year 2011
・GONDO Mayumi （Ritsumeikan University, Graduate School of Core Ethics and Frontier Sciences）＊Representative
・ITO Kayoko （Ritsumeikan University, Graduate School of Core Ethics and Frontier Sciences）
・KAWAGUCHI Yumiko （Ritsumeikan University, Graduate School of Core Ethics and Frontier Sciences）
・SATO Hiroko （Ritsumeikan University, Graduate School of Core Ethics and Frontier Sciences）
・YAMAGUCHI Maki （Ritsumeikan University, Graduate School of Core Ethics and Frontier Sciences）
・UEMURA Kaname （Ritsumeikan University, Graduate School of Core Ethics and Frontier Sciences）
・ARIMATSU Ryo （Ritsumeikan University, Graduate School of Core Ethics and Frontier Sciences）
・AOKI Chihoko （Ritsumeikan Global Innovation Research Organization）
・HORI Tomohisa （Ritsumeikan University, Kinugasa Research Organization）
・WATANABE Katsunori （Ritsumeikan University, Kinugasa Research Organization）
・KAI Sarasa （Ritsumeikan University, Kinugasa Research Organization）
・HAKODA Tetsu （Ritsumeikan University, Kinugasa Research Organization）
・NIIYMA Tomoki （Ritsumeikan University, Kinugasa Research Organization）
・NOZAKI Yasunobu （Ritsumeikan University）
Ⅰ．Topics and Contribution to the Global COE Program Ars Vivendi
(1)Topics, Objectives and Impacts
◆Topics
The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, occurred on January 17, 1995, lead to recognition of many life problems of people with disabilities concerning earthquake. Then “Yume Kaze Fund” was established in order to be ready for disasters that could occur in the future. In this Great East Japan Earthquake, people with disabilities and ones with diseases have been forced to live without any resources for their living again as vulnerable people. Apparently, people without any disabilities were also sufferers. All individuals have tried desperately to protect their own lives and their family lives. However, people with disabilities and those who need to have a close contact with medical institutes because of their physical conditions could not even evacuate by themselves and had to eventually give up entering evacuation shelters where they could not receive enough medical services. There appeared an immediate financial support from Yume Kaze Fund, supply from Great East Japan Earthquake Rescue Center for People with Disabilities and temporary staffing etc. and the actual condition of confirmation of the safety and realities of people with disabilities little by little. There are still many problems such as “earthquake disaster,” “nuclear power station,” “recovery,” and “settling” due to the consecutive afterquakes. Therefore, we will conduct experimental studies, through each member's research field, on people with disabilities and ones with diseases under this earthquake. We will examine future policy trends, including systems and art of living to be established for people with disabilities who still live in “local community” or enter “institutions” from “local community” based on the actual situation of the involved persons. Finally, we would like to report our achievements to the disastered areas.
◆Objectives
Alike the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, the Great East Japan Earthquake destroyed many things that had been established for living in local community. In our graduate school, there are many students who are engaged in research on people with disabilities as their individual theme. Those who were suffered from the earthquake have been under reconstruction of their lives, so they have no time to record their actual situations, analyze and compare them. In our group, some postdoctoral fellows have been engaged in research on people with disabilities and experienced theoretical / experimental research from a viewpoint of people with disabilities themselves. For graduate students, opportunities of arguments enable them to widen their range of discussion. Earthquakes are expected to occur again in the future. We believe that we are able to identify what made people with disabilities and diseases disappointed for living in this earthquake, what they had hope for living, then carry out many discussions, report the achievements and make proposals to the government. In addition, by presenting the achievements at academic societies and so on , we aim at contributing to theoretical / experimental research on issues of earthquake from aspects of social welfare studies, disability studies and sociology.
◆Impacts
Through surveys from viewpoints of people with disabilities and ones with diseases, discussion and presentation, we would like to identify not only the process of their independent lives that had been destroyed but how the reconstruction of the lives were formed. By doing these, we have to identify what kind of activities were needed for those who had to move temporally to hospitals or institutions in order to live in local community. In addition, it is obvious that environmental arrangement should be provided promptly for such unanticipated situations as securement of appropriate responses and safe places under earthquake and cooperation between medical institutions and the government to their families as well as to people with disabilities and diseases who have difficulties in maintaining their lives during earthquake. We strongly believe that our research from each academic field will provide some substantial benefits.
(2)Contribution to the Global COE Program Ars Vivendi
Since March 14, 2011, we have provided useful and important information on the earthquake via our website as logistic support. Because the large number of people have visited this site, we strongly believe it has had certain effects already. We aim at enriching the contents of the site. Moreover, we hope that we are able to show and suggest the ideal ways of appropriate supports and evacuation shelters at the time of disasters for people with disabilities and ones with diseases based on our project members’ academic research from now on.