International Report: Local response following the Great East Japan Earthquake 2011

Abstract

The aim of our laboratory is to study the neuroscience of dementia and contribute to the welfare of elderly people. Our work in the northern area of Miyagi prefecture has always been our priority. However, we never expected to experience such an extreme challenge as that of the March 2011 earthquake. This earthquake had been predicted based on a scientific consensus1; unfortunately, the warning was too late. I was seeing outpatients at our research clinic in Kurihara City when the earthquake struck. We immediately ensured the safety of the patients by evacuating the building. All the staff knew how to act, perhaps partly because of their experience of the 2008 Iwate-Miyagi Inland Earthquake, which hit this city only 3 years ago. Our initial goals were to protect ourselves and our patients from objects by moving ourselves under furniture, and then evacuating the building. After ensuring that everything was in order at the clinic in Kurihara City, I went to the Tajiri Clinic, which is one of our most important research centers.2 At the clinic, I found that a large number of refugees had gathered. However, the doctor in charge was off-duty that day. An otolaryngologist was the only available doctor, and he had sustained a bone fracture in the earthquake. While one of our graduate students transported the injured doctor to an emergency hospital, I took on the duties of the clinic, confronting a series of challenges caused by the disaster. I was pleased to find that most of the 80 refugees had carried their own medications with them, which enabled us to make up a list of their doctors and medications. Some patients did not have their medications and had angina or worsening of diabetes mellitus, but all these were successfully managed. There were no patients …