Review of the domestic utilization of pre-positioned international medical relief equipment in Japan

This study discusses the domestic deployment of the disaster response team of the International Red Cross based in Japan. The team responded to the Niigata Chuetsu Earthquake, the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami (GEJET), and the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquakes. Relief equipment such as large tents, water supply equipment, and generators were useful for supporting damaged medical facilities and improving the living conditions at the evacuation centers. Whilst many studies point out the difficulties in needs matching and logistics arrangements in receiving foreign medical teams in the GEJET, the international disaster response team of the Japanese Red Cross has overcome these challenges by utilizing the existing networks that were constructed before the event.