Our relief activities following the 2007 Niigata Chuetsu Offshore Earthquake.

Our preliminary support team (dispatched from July 18th to July 21st ) obtained information from Niigata Prefecture health workers, established contact with Kashiwazaki Health Center, and entered the affected area. Fighting terrible traffic along the way, we bought relief supplies after making contact with nurses who had already entered the disaster area and health workers at Kashiwazaki, before finally reaching our destination.

The Health Center requested that we go to the evacuation shelters with the greatest number of evacuees, and so we split into teams of 2 to help out at 2 separate shelters.

In one evacuation shelter, as the photo shows, the care package developed by COE was displayed, and was explained to health workers who expressed an interest. Evacuees at the disaster site had their blood pressure checked in order to determine whether they were suffering from existing illnesses or symptoms related to the disaster. Efforts were also made to establish communication with evacuees.

After this, we continued our ongoing survey and relief efforts while accompanying teams of health workers from Hyogo prefecture, with 1 person going in the first phase from July 24th to the 27th, and another going in the second phase from July 26th to the 30th.

Participation in the 9th Annual Meeting of the Japan Society of Disaster Nursing

A meeting was held to report on the nursing activities that took place following the Niigata Chuetsu Offshore Earthquake and future challenges
Reports were presented by both the team that worked at the site of the disaster until the end of July, and the University team that provided backup support from on-campus.

A total of 51 people from within and outside the University community participated in the meeting. The program, which appears below, included reports on the state of the disaster area and the needs of the victims.