A Comparison of Mental Health among Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Power Plant Accident Survivors in the Long Term after the Great East Japan Earthquake

Noriko Sodeyama, Sho Takahashi (), Miyuki Aiba, Yayoi Haraguchi, Tetsuaki Arai and Hirokazu Tachikawa
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Noriko Sodeyama: Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba 305-8577, Japan
Sho Takahashi: Department of Disaster and Community Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba 305-8577, Japan
Miyuki Aiba: Faculty of Human Sciences, Toyo Gakuen University, 1-26-3 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
Yayoi Haraguchi: College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Ibaraki University, 2-1-1 Bunkyo, Mito 310-8512, Japan
Tetsuaki Arai: Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba 305-8577, Japan
Hirokazu Tachikawa: Department of Disaster and Community Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba 305-8577, Japan

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 21, 1-16

Abstract: Even now, ten years after the Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE), thousands of residents of Fukushima Prefecture are still living as evacuees. To understand the mental health states and needs for psychological care of the survivors, we conducted a questionnaire survey of survivors who were evacuated from Fukushima to Ibaraki due to the nuclear power plant accident and of the residents of two areas in Ibaraki where damage was particularly severe due to the tsunami or liquefaction. Our results show that stress related to participants’ hometowns and to the disaster was a risk factor for depression and post-traumatic stress among the survivors in the medium to long term in all regions examined. Other risk factors for post-traumatic stress differed by region. This study shows that in a complex disaster such as the GEJE, where damage is widespread, the causes of damage and the experiences of disaster survivors differ greatly from region to region and that risk factors for depression and post-traumatic stress among disaster survivors over the medium to long term may also differ. To provide appropriate care to disaster survivors, it is necessary to determine what is causing the risk of depression and post-traumatic stress at any given time and in specific regions.

Keywords: depression; post-traumatic stress; risk factor; regional difference; the Great East Japan Earthquake (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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