japan CHILDREN’S RIGHT TO AND SUPPORT FOR
PLAY IN POST DISASTER JAPANESE CONTEXT BY HELEN WOOLLEY AND ISAMI KINOSHITA
J
apan experiences 20 per cent of the world’s earthquakes and on 11 March 2011 suffered a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and massive tsunami causing widespread death and destruction along the eastern coastal areas, and triggering the failure of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The nuclear meltdown was the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. The first tsunami wave reached the coast 15 minutes after the earthquake. The waves were larger than had been expected or planned for, reaching 38 metres, the height of a 12-storey building, in some locations. A continuous stretch of land more than 500 km in length and sometimes 4 km wide was directly affected and the volume of water made an unexpected impact as it travelled up the narrow river valleys. This was a unique triple disaster of massive earthquake, tsunami and nuclear power plant failure never experienced before anywhere in the world. The widespread damage has been referred to as the worst natural disaster in Japan’s recorded history, but affected a low-density population in this coastal and rural area. However, entire towns were washed away by the tsunami, reducing some communities to less than half of their pre-tsunami populations (WPRO/WHO, 2012). There was a high death toll of 19,533 people, many missing people, and displacement of families resulting in trauma, shock, grief and isolation. There was a massive loss of property resulting in 26.7 million tons of debris with a very high rebuilding cost. Risks to children Children experienced a ‘cascading series of life stressors’ (Weissbecker et al., 2008 p. 32) including loss of family, relatives, friends, homes, neighbourhoods and play opportunities; loss of school days and destruction and damage of schools. There is now also evidence of long term health implications. Before the disaster, there were only one to two cases of thyroid cancers in a million Japanese children but now Fukushima has more than 100 confirmed or suspected cases, having tested about 300,000
12
P L AY R I G H T S
•
I PA W O R L D . O R G
children1. In addition there is an increased suicide risk among young children, particularly girls, who experienced the trauma of earthquake at preschool age2; higher PTSD risk in regions with radiation-related impacts than in regions where the main damage was caused by the earthquake and tsunami3, behaviour problems and other mental health issues4. Many children who were evacuated to other areas across Japan had to move several times and some were separated from their families. Such children had difficulty making friends and often suffered at the hands of bullies who accused them of spreading nuclear radiation in the school. Right to play Following visits to the post-disaster area in 2012 and 2014 we suggested a framework of Space, People, Intervention and Time that supported children’s right to play5. Examples were provided of where this had happened and also where these dimensions were limiting or restricting children’s right to play (Woolley and Kinoshita, 2015). The research reported here builds on that previous work and was undertaken six years after the disaster as part of the IPA’s Children’s Access to Play in Crisis situations. The current research was undertaken in Ishinomaki City in Miyagi Prefecture which was severely affected by the triple disaster and where 3,541 people died and 427 people are still missing. It explored the memory of experiences of a small number of children at different stages after the disaster: in emergency shelter/accommodation, in temporary housing and in new housing. Evacuation stage: until six months after the disaster Immediately after the disaster people were evacuated to shelters and emergency evacuation locations such as school gymnastic halls or school shelters and these were very crowded spaces. The atmosphere was very sad and children played quietly indoors. Some shelters were visited by volunteers to support children’s play so some of children were then able to have a different experience supported by the volunteers.
