Damage, Living Environment, and Reconstruction Under the Great East Japan Earthquake-The 5th Survey of Nuclear Disaster Evacuees from Futaba, Fukushima, Summary of Results 2019

保険研究部准主任研究員岩﨑敬子

4――Building Relationships with Residents at Evacuation Destinations

Some Futaba residents had told us that building a new social relationship with residents in evacuation destinations is a challenge that needs to be addressed in prolonged evacuation periods, in which the policies and understandings of residents of evacuation destinations vary widely. To capture this challenge, since the 2016 survey, the questions on relationships with residents of the evacuation destinations have been included. As shown in Figure 10, the percentage of residents with opportunities to interact with the residents of the evacuation destinations and the percentage of residents that participate in events held in the evacuation destinations are gradually increasing. In addition, the percentage of those that feel it is better to hide that they are from Futaba, those that feel uneasy about taking out the garbage, and those that are called bad names or been misbehaved to because they are from Futaba have been decreasing. However, we can see that about 40% of the residents still feel it is better to conceal that they are from Futaba, and that they do not have any opportunities to interact with residents at the evacuation destinations, indicating that building new relationships with residents at the evacuation destinations is still an important challenge for Futaba residents.

Figure 10: Relationships with Residents in Evacuation Destinations

5――Relationship Between Damage and Present Bias

Figure 11: Disaster,Present Basis and Mental Health

We found exposure to a disaster aggravates an individual’s present bias and this causal relationship can be a key mechanism behind the disaster and mental health deterioration nexus (see Figure 1). Present bias is an individual's procrastination tendency known to be intimately linked to harmful behaviors against health, such as overeating, smoking, and excessive alcohol drinking. In disaster affected areas, various activities and policies to improve health and to encourage communication have been introduced, such as regular lunch programs, radio gymnastics and other events, the installation of free running machines in community centers, and the use of architectural design in public reconstruction housing which encourages interactions among residents. These activities and policies are considered to prevent the deterioration of mental health caused by procrastination tendencies, and our study results support the effectiveness of such activities and policies. However, it should be noted that not everyone faces aggravation of present bias or mental health deterioration after a disaster and the purpose of our study is to provide policy implications.

6―― Summary of Findings from the Five Rounds of Surveys

(1) Futaba residents could be under more serious psychological distress than those in other disaster affected areas. More than eight years have passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake, and their mental health status has been gradually improving, but recovery may take much longer.

(2) In particular, there was a possibility that the mental health of those who had lived in temporary shelters for a long time was in a serious condition. However, currently, even after many of the residents have already moved from temporary shelters to public reconstruction housing, the mental health of residents in public reconstruction housing tends to be in a serious condition, and continuous support is important.

(3) As to changes in income and health condition caused by the disaster, we find that the greater the extent of decrease or deterioration is, the greater the degree of decline in individual well-being tends to be. This implies the necessity of sufficient compensation so that the original state of the survivors’ well-being can be recovered.

(4) The disaster has weakened the social capital of Futaba residents, and recovery may take a very long time.

(5) Keeping in touch with friends from pre-disaster times as well as participating in hobbies and volunteer activities after the disaster may help people maintain good mental health.

(6) Though relationship building with the residents of the evacuation destinations shows some gradual progress, the progress is subtle and it is still thought to be an important challenge that evacuees are facing.

(7) Aggravated present bias (procrastination tendencies) due to disasters can lead to a decline in mental health condition, but policies that promote interaction among residents and encourage good health behaviors can prevent such a decline.

These results have been presented at international and domestic academic conferences. In addition, these results have been published in international academic journals. We intend to continue our analysis and contribute to the improvement of disaster preparation/rehabilitation policies.

Our survey results are based on aggregates and analyses of responses from approximately 24% of the households of Futaba and do not represent all Futaba residents. Since the survey was conducted after a major disaster, the characteristics of respondents may be very different from general surveys and there is a possibility of an overestimation in our results due to the deterioration of physical and mental health conditions. Therefore, special caution is required in interpreting the results, and any definitive judgments based solely on these findings should be avoided.

日付	タイトル	執筆者	媒体
2025/06/30	マスク着用の子どもへの影響－コロナ禍の研究を経て分かっていること/いないこと	岩﨑敬子	基礎研レポート
2025/06/26	マスク着用のコミュニケーションへの影響（２）－コロナ禍の研究を経て分かっていること/いないこと	岩﨑敬子	基礎研レター
2025/06/23	マスク着用のコミュニケーションへの影響（１）－コロナ禍の研究を経て分かっていること/いないこと	岩﨑敬子	基礎研レター
2025/06/19	マスク着用のメンタルヘルスへの影響（２）－コロナ禍の研究を経て分かっていること/いないこと	岩﨑敬子	基礎研レター

日付

タイトル

執筆者

媒体

2025/06/30

マスク着用の子どもへの影響－コロナ禍の研究を経て分かっていること/いないこと

岩﨑敬子

基礎研レポート

2025/06/26

マスク着用のコミュニケーションへの影響（２）－コロナ禍の研究を経て分かっていること/いないこと

岩﨑敬子

基礎研レター