As of July 2023, five years had passed since the July 2018 Heavy Rain Disaster.
Over these five years, some people decided to continue living in Mabi, while others started a new life elsewhere.
After the disaster, having to think about what to do next amid uncertainty about the future must have been a heavy burden for those affected.
The Kurashiki City Mabi Mutual Support Center (hereafter, the Mutual Support Center) has supported disaster survivors since the disaster, helping them return to a safe and secure life.
Here, we introduce the center’s activities to date, along with an interview with its director, Saga Masahiro.
The information presented here was current when this article was published in December 2023. Please note that it may differ from current information.
The Mutual Support Center provides attentive support to disaster survivors
The Mutual Support Center opened in October 2018, three months after the July 2018 Heavy Rain Disaster.
It is operated under contract from Kurashiki City by the Kurashiki City Council of Social Welfare, which has long-standing ties to the community.
Its main activity is visiting disaster survivors to ask about their health and living conditions, prospects for rebuilding their lives, and any difficulties they face, then connecting them with the support they need.
By October 2023, the center had visited approximately 5,800 households affected by the disaster. A distinctive feature of its work is that support workers visit survivors to provide assistance.
Even though we use the single word “disaster,” each person’s experience and the challenges they face in rebuilding their lives are different.
It is also difficult to gather and understand information about the various forms of support available and complete the necessary procedures.
The Mutual Support Center therefore assesses each survivor’s circumstances individually and provides attentive support to help them access the assistance they need.
Preventing disaster survivors from becoming isolated
Watching over survivors to ensure they do not become isolated is another important role of the Mutual Support Center.
When a disaster damages people’s homes, some have to leave the communities they know well, for example to move into temporary housing.
For example, people who leave Mabi to move into unfamiliar apartments in order to live in deemed temporary housing (privately rented housing temporarily used as temporary accommodation) may have no acquaintances nearby, and can become isolated or keep their worries to themselves.
To prevent this kind of isolation, after opening, the Mutual Support Center began prioritizing visits to households where someone lived alone and households consisting only of older adults.
A desire to help disaster survivors and Mabi
The Mutual Support Center started with five staff members. As it grew, it had a staff of around 50 at its busiest.
The community support workers who carry out the center’s main activity—visiting households—are hired regardless of qualifications, based on their desire to “help disaster survivors and Mabi.”
Many of the community support workers had experience with disaster volunteer centers or community activities.
This was because they felt that survivors would not want people simply visiting them and conducting interviews. They asked themselves, “How can we provide support that is sensitive to their feelings?”
During the early visits, workers often heard complaints about the government and feelings of frustration about the disaster. But by sincerely listening and empathizing with survivors who wanted “someone to hear the feelings I’ve kept bottled up ever since the disaster,” they sometimes managed to bridge the emotional distance between themselves and the survivors.
Rather than simply asking questions and leaving, they took time to build trust, sometimes chatting about everyday things.
It is thanks to the community support workers’ desire to help disaster survivors and Mabi that they are able to provide support that eases survivors’ anxiety and is sensitive to their feelings.
The Mutual Support Center’s work is grounded in caring for survivors and being sensitive to their feelings.
We spoke with Center Director Saga Masahiro about the center’s activities and his thoughts over the past five years.
Interview with Center Director Saga Masahiro
How activities have changed over five years—and what has stayed the same
What was it like when the Mutual Support Center first started?
Saga (honorific omitted)
We hadn’t decided who to visit or how often, and we had no experience with the Mutual Support Center’s work. But I was worried that survivors might be feeling uncertain about the future and lonely, and wanted to start visiting them as soon as possible.
We first prioritized households where someone lived alone and households with only older adults, as we were concerned they might become isolated.
Young people living alone were usually away at work, but when we couldn’t meet them, I felt relieved, thinking, “At least they’re not isolated.”
What has changed in the center’s activities over the past five years?
Saga
As living conditions improved over time for more households, the number of households we visit regularly has decreased.
As of October 2023, we were still visiting around 10 households.
But just because we no longer visit regularly doesn’t mean that the support itself has ended.
People’s lives settle down over time, but you never know when emotional difficulties may arise, so I hope they’ll contact us whenever they need anything.
You mentioned that the number of households you visit has decreased. How do you stay connected with survivors now?
Saga
Since July 2019, we’ve sent seasonal postcards with pictures of things like fans, flowers, and fruit, along with messages.
We heard that around the first anniversary of the disaster, more people remember what happened or feel down. We began sending messages to households we no longer visit regularly, as well as people who have left Mabi, to let them know, “We’re thinking of you” and “Please contact us anytime.”
Some people get in touch to say, “It arrived,” and others display the postcards by their front doors. We can tell that they appreciate them.
The disaster showed the importance of connections with those around us
Was there anything you found difficult in your work at the Mutual Support Center?
Saga
I don’t really remember finding anything particularly difficult myself (laughs).
The community support workers probably found it difficult, since in the early days they often heard complaints about the government and feelings of frustration about the disaster.
But when I explained, “Our role isn’t just to conduct surveys. It’s also important to give survivors a chance to express what they haven’t been able to say,” the community support workers understood.
It was good to be able to work with people who wanted to help disaster survivors and Mabi.
Could you tell us about something from the past five years that has stayed with you?
Saga
As we responded to people’s concerns, there were times when existing systems simply couldn’t address their needs.
At times like that, if you’ve built connections with a range of people, such as NPOs and volunteer groups, there are people around you who will step up and work with you.
I realized that we don’t have to be all things to all people and solve everything ourselves—something I might not have thought if the disaster hadn’t happened.
What do you hope Mabi will be like in the future?
Saga
I think one of Mabi’s strengths is that many people feel attached to the area and are looking positively toward doing something in response to the disaster.
But telling people to keep taking on new things can be a heavy burden, too.
First, I hope people will value ordinary things, like greeting a neighbor when you meet them on the street or stopping for a brief chat.
I think things like that deepen connections in the community and can lead people to check in on one another during a disaster or other emergency.
From the Writer
In the interview, I was struck by Saga’s comment: “We tend to lump everyone together as ‘disaster survivors,’ but not everyone faces the same difficulties at the same time.”
In the confusion after a disaster, both survivors and those providing support can become focused on dealing with the problems right in front of them.
In such an emergency, rather than lumping everyone together as “disaster survivors,” the visits by community support workers, who care about each person and listen to what they have to say, may have helped ease the tension survivors were carrying.
We hope that support like that provided by the Mutual Support Center will receive increasing attention, and that systems enabling people to rebuild their lives with peace of mind will become more widespread.
Articles about the Kurashiki City Council of Social Welfare
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