Evacuation of Hospitalized Patients during the Eruption of Usuzan Volcano: Especially those Receiving Rehabilitation Services

More than fifteen thousand residents in Date city, Abuta and Sobetsu town evacuated during the eruption of Usuzan volcano on March 31, 2000. Medical staff of Toya Kyokai Hospital along with 281 inpatients moved away safely. 143 inpatients including 91 undergoing rehabilitation were transferred by private buses as follows: 64 to Date Red Cross Hospital, 32 to Toya Onsen Hospital, 20 to Yotei Green Hospital, and 15 to Muroran City. Secondary relocation to safer institutions was assisted with medical social workers and was completed within a month. Another 138 inpatients were discharged. A questionnaire survey was conducted to evaluate evacuation activities and problems faced both in the receiving hospitals and in evacuation shelters. 173 out of 269 (64.3%) responded. It was revealed that ward nurses were active in preparation and execution of the escape. Useful personal belongings were medications, money, clothes, shoes with braces and canes. Glasses and dentures were items easily forgotten. Evacuation centers should be comfortably equipped for persons with disability. A concept of “disaster core hospitals” was introduced after the great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in 1995, however, its was targeted to directly injured residents by the disasters. Evacuating inpatients or people with disability receiving rehabilitation services were unfortunately excluded from the definition.