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      Social Capital Enhanced Disaster Preparedness and Health Consultations after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Nuclear Power Station Accident

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          Abstract

          After the Great East Japan Earthquake and the subsequent Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station accident in 2011, there was a strong demand to promote disaster preparedness approaches and health checkups for the prevention of lifestyle diseases. This study examined the yearly change in the percentage of those who prepared for disasters and who utilized health checkups in Fukushima Prefecture, and identified the factors governing disaster preparedness and utilization of health checkups. We used the public opinion survey from 2011 to 2015 ( n = 677–779 each year) on prefectural policies that is conducted every year by the Fukushima Prefecture government Public Consultation Unit. We found that the percentage of those who prepare for disasters decreased, while that for health checkups did not significantly change. With regard to disaster preparedness, experiences of disaster enhance disaster preparedness, while bonds with other local people help to maintain preparedness. For health checkups, familiarity with the welfare service was the most important factor governing such consultations. The findings suggest that social capital should be promoted in order to improve disaster preparedness. The findings also suggest that residents’ accessibility to medical and welfare services is also important in promoting the utilization of health checkups.

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          Most cited references23

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          Learn from the Past, Prepare for the Future: Impacts of Education and Experience on Disaster Preparedness in the Philippines and Thailand

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            Social capital and cognitive decline in the aftermath of a natural disaster: a natural experiment from the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami.

            We examined prospectively whether social capital mitigates the adverse effects of natural disaster on cognitive decline.
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              Postnuclear disaster evacuation and chronic health in adults in Fukushima, Japan: a long-term retrospective analysis

              Objective Japan's 2011 Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant incident required the evacuation of over a million people, creating a large displaced population with potentially increased vulnerability in terms of chronic health conditions. We assessed the long-term impact of evacuation on diabetes, hyperlipidaemia and hypertension. Participants We considered participants in annual public health check-ups from 2008 to 2014, administrated by Minamisoma City and Soma City, located about 10–50 km from the Fukushima nuclear plant. Methods Disease risks, measured in terms of pre-incident and post-incident relative risks, were examined and compared between evacuees and non-evacuees/temporary-evacuees. We also constructed logistic regression models to assess the impact of evacuation on the disease risks adjusted for covariates. Results Data from a total of 6406 individuals aged 40–74 years who participated in the check-ups both at baseline (2008–2010) and in one or more post-incident years were analysed. Regardless of evacuation, significant post-incident increases in risk were observed for diabetes and hyperlipidaemia (relative risk: 1.27–1.60 and 1.12–1.30, respectively, depending on evacuation status and post-incident year). After adjustment for covariates, the increase in hyperlipidaemia was significantly greater among evacuees than among non-evacuees/temporary-evacuees (OR 1.18, 95% CI 1.06 to 1.32, p<0.01). Conclusions The singularity of this study is that evacuation following the Fukushima disaster was found to be associated with a small increase in long-term hyperlipidaemia risk in adults. Our findings help identify discussion points on disaster planning, including preparedness, response and recovery measures, applicable to future disasters requiring mass evacuation.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Int J Environ Res Public Health
                Int J Environ Res Public Health
                ijerph
                International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
                MDPI
                1661-7827
                1660-4601
                14 March 2018
                March 2018
                : 15
                : 3
                : 516
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Department of Health Risk Communication, Fukushima Medical University, 1 Hikarigaoka, Fukushima City, Fukushima 960-1295, Japan; m131094@ 123456fmu.ac.jp (M.H.); ytake2@ 123456fmu.ac.jp (Y.T.)
                [2 ]Fukushima Prefectural Centre for Environmental Creation, 2-10 Fukasaku, Miharu-machi, Tamura-gun, Fukushima 963-7700, Japan; suzuki_satoshi_03@ 123456pref.fukushima.lg.jp
                [3 ]Department of Blood Transfusion and Transplantation Immunology, Fukushima Medical University, 1 Hikarigaoka, Fukushima City, Fukushima 960-1295, Japan; hit-ohto@ 123456fmu.ac.jp
                [4 ]Department of Advanced Cancer Immunotherapy, Fukushima Medical University, 1 Hikarigaoka, Fukushima City, Fukushima 960-1295, Japan
                Author notes
                [* ]Correspondence: michio@ 123456fmu.ac.jp ; Tel.: +81-024-547-1320
                Author information
                https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6366-0087
                Article
                ijerph-15-00516
                10.3390/ijerph15030516
                5877061
                29538320
                6f788623-e4a8-4415-a27c-536d4f6dc25a
                © 2018 by the authors.

                Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

                History
                : 10 January 2018
                : 10 March 2018
                Categories
                Article

                Public health
                disaster preparedness,disaster risk reduction,fukushima daiichi nuclear power station,great east japan earthquake,healthcare checkups,social capital

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