Support for the Elderly to Regain a Normal Life after an Earthquake: Comparative Sociology of the Great East Japan and Kumamoto Earthquakes

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K01986
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 08010:Sociology-related
• Research Institution: Fukuoka University
• Principal Investigator: Honda Yasuo 福岡大学, 人文学部, 准教授 (50586443)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 東日本大震災 / 熊本地震 / 民生委員 / 生活支援相談員 / 高齢者支援

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This process of support required for the elderly from the time of a disaster to evacuation and periods of living in temporary shelters was clarified in this study through participant observation and interviews with livelihood support counselors and community welfare volunteers in small municipalities that had been severely affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake and the Kumamoto Earthquake. Analysis of data gathered showed that support by livelihood support counselors, who also happen to be local residents, played an important role in the affected areas as disaster social work that relied on the continuity between public and private sectors. The study results also revealed that the care provided by community welfare volunteers is vital, especially when the vulnerability of the elderly is high due to the disaster.

Free Research Field

社会学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

生活支援相談員や民生委員による被災者支援について、社会学の観点から理論的・実証的に考察した。地域住民を活用した生活支援相談員の実践は、社会的ケアの職住分離規範と異なることから生ずる負の側面を抑制することによって、公私の連続性を生かした災害ソーシャルワークであることを示した。さらに、制度化されたボランティアとしての民生委員の分析から、心理的ヴァルネラビリティ論では被災者と支援者という二者関係の外部が重要となることを明らかにした。