KAMAISHI, Iwate Prefecture--Visually impaired people in areas affected by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster are becoming increasingly reluctant to leave their homes as they face sidewalks still in ruin, a changing townscape and a lack of support groups.
KAMAISHI, Iwate Prefecture--Visually impaired people in areas affected by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster are becoming increasingly reluctant to leave their homes as they face sidewalks still in ruin, a changing townscape and a lack of support groups.
Early in the morning of July 12, as tsunami alerts blared across the Pacific coast of northeastern Honshu, Ryo Nakamura, a 61-year-old acupuncturist and moxibutionist living near the city's port, evacuated with his 58-year-old sister Mimiko to a hospital nearby.
But with Nakamura being blind and Mimiko also being visually impaired, they had to rely on Masakatsu Tokiwa, a 69-year-old sighted guide who supports people with visual disabilities.
"It was impossible for us to evacuate by ourselves, so (Tokiwa) coming for us in a car was very helpful," Nakamura said.
Though it has been more than three years since the Great East Japan Earthquake, the edges of sidewalks and alleyways are still wrecked from the tsunami that followed the turmoil. Sidewalks remain bumpy, and many of the tactile pavings that are meant to signal the visually impaired have either been damaged or obscured with dirt and debris.
To make things even more difficult, numerous new buildings are now being erected as the region attempts to reconstruct.
"I used to determine the position of a nearby car by listening to how its sound reflected off a building's wall as it went by," said Nakamura. "But now, the sounds are changing rapidly. The noise of construction going on everywhere confuses me even more."
Immediately after the earthquake, a support group from outside the prefecture set up a branch in the city, assisting residents on their trips between their homes and the hospital or shops. But the group withdrew from the city last autumn.
Currently, Nakamura is assisted by Tokiwa, who belongs to the nonprofit organization Kobe Eyelight Association, but the service is scheduled to end in September.
"These people need the most support starting now, when the town is changing shape," Tokiwa said. Tokiwa, a survivor of the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995, currently assists about 30 people living in the Kamaishi area.
As of late March, approximately 4,700 certified people with disabilities resided in the 27 cities, towns and villages struck by the earthquake in Iwate and Miyagi prefectures.
Today, nonprofit organizations established locally have taken over the various groups that initially supported the disabled after the disaster. However, most of these organizations are far too busy during the day caring for the basic daily needs of people with disabilities and have no time to take any of them out shopping or to a hospital.
"The visually impaired, who already had enough trouble going out (before the disaster), are finding it even harder to leave their homes since the earthquake," an official of the Japan Federation of the Blind said. "We are worried whether or not there are enough hands to assist their daily trips. The establishment of a system to assist those in need locally, as well as giving support from other regions, is crucial."
(This article was written by Masataka Yamaura and Masakazu Higashino.)