MEMO-040111-A

MEMO-040111-A

Report on Iwate Pref.

372 shelters with 43,000 people total in Iwate.

Some of the most hard-hit areas are in Iwate, and I tried calling more than 30 shelters, but all shelters along the coast region are unaccessible by phone.  I got to talk to a couple of ladies in the inner land region, but they said they are basically doing fine and have enough (more than enough almost) things being brought in.

On the other hand, the costal areas seem to still be very much isolated and with very little food, judging from what bits and pieces of information I picked up from twitter, blogs, iwate posts, google personfinder ppl’s information etc.

I have found that Miyako City is especially in need of help probably because their phone lines are down, they are in Iwate (up further north from Miyagi, and Miyako City is rather up north within Iwate), and so are relatively unaccessible (to show this, the list of people that are in the shelters in this are very very short compared to the actual number of people that is supposed to be there).   They seem to still have no water, power, or gas.  Miyako City has 4,500 people in shelters.

The mayor of Miyako is managing to send out a fax asking for help to bring food and goods to them.  Miyako is sending out the most number of faxes asking for help.

The mayor, as of today, is asking for:

– Clothing (underwear), socks

– Toilet paper

– Canned foods

– Cup ramen, instant soups and miso soups

– Vegetables

– Soap, detergent

– Adult nappies, urine pads

– Hokkairos (hot kairo)

–  Work gloves, rubber gloves

– Sanitary napkins, tampons

– Hand lotions

– Styrofoam plates and bowls

While the other districts are starting to ask for more non-basic things (like shovels), Miyako is still asking for the very basic things, and Iwate pref gov. admits that they haven’t been able to deliver to some areas.

So I really think we need to help Miyako City… the problem is that there is almost no way to contact them.  But we know they are out there…

I do have a fairly accurate map of all the shelters in Miyako City, and about how many people are in each.  They are all fairly close to each other, except for the peninsula portion.  I also have a map to show accessible roads.  Currently though, they are in the process of integrating 45 of their shelters into 18.  I am now following the google personfinder blog where they are exchanging information about the move, and I think I can specify some of the shelters where there will be a lot of people.  (I already have one –

<GreenPia Sanriku Miyako Hotel

0193-87-5111 (line is down)

148 Mukai-Nitta, Tarou, Miyako City, Iwate (岩手県宮古市田老向新田148)>

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(below is just a note to self:  the article that NHK put up on their website temporarily to announce that Miyako is going to integrate some of their shelters by the beginning of April, and that Miyako North High School moved into GreenPia.  The rest of the details in the article is included in my memo above)

宮古市が避難所を集約へ
宮古市では、被災者の避難生活の長期化が見込まれる中、
分散している避難所を集約して、被災者への支援を充実させるための準備が進められています。
宮古市では、29日の時点で、およそ4600人が、避難所での生活を余儀なくされていますが、避難生活の長期化が見込まれるなか、物資の供給や行政サービスなどで、被災者の要望にいかにきめ細かく対応できるかが課題になっています。
このため、宮古市は、市内45か所の避難所を、来月上旬までに18か所に集約することを決め、31日から、被災者の引っ越しが始まりました。
このうち、およそ150人が避難している田老地区の宮古北高校では、
被災者たちが身の回りの荷物をまとめ、市の宿泊施設「グリーンピア三陸みやこ」に向かいました。
岩手県によりますと、29日現在、県内では372の避難所に、4万3000人あまりが生活しているということですが、すべての避難所に行政サービスなどが、行き届いていないのが実情で、他の自治体でも避難所の集約が必要になってきているということです。

03月31日 17時57分