Mental health problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression have surfaced and are affecting many residents in Fukushima prefecture as a result of the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami and the subsequent nuclear disaster. It has also been reported that such mental health problems appeared and persisted after large-scale nuclear accidents in the past, such as the Che...

This paper uses original survey data of the Great East Japan earthquake disaster victims to examine their decision to apply for the temporary housing as well as the timing of application. We assess the effects of victims' attachment to their locality as well as variation in victims' information seeking behavior. We additionally consider various factors such as income, age, employment and family...

In the last decade, people have increasingly relied on social media platforms such as Twitter to share information on the response to a natural or a man-made disaster. This paper focuses on the aftermath of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Since the disaster, victims and volunteers have been sharing relevant information about radiation measurements by means of social media. The aim of th...

In this issue of Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, Clarke et al have given an insightful look into issues surrounding the needs of hospitals responding to chemically contaminated victims of mass-casualty incidents.1 In doing so, they also have provided an opportunity to examine more general concerns related to disasters. It is intuitive that hospitals play a major role in disaster response; th...

The 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake caused a wide range of problems, and as countermeasures, many aid activities were carried out. Many of these problems and aid activities were reported via Twitter. However, most problem reports and corresponding aid messages were not successfully exchanged between victims and local governments or humanitarian organizations, overwhelmed by the vast amount of ...

Microblogging sites like Twitter are increasingly being used for aiding relief operations during disaster events. In such situations, identifying actionable information like needs and availabilities of various types of resources is critical for effective coordination of post disaster relief operations. However, such critical information is usually submerged within a lot of conversational conten...

Background: Millions of children are affected by disasters every year. Children need not be passive victims, however, but instead may contribute to disaster risk reduction activities. Objective: This paper provides a theoretical foundation for children's involvement in disaster risk reduction activities. Method: The paper reviews and analyses the literature on children's participation, on their...