Shelter for Families with Kids Opens after Kumamoto Earthquake

Hikawa, Kumamoto Pref., Sept. 1 (Jiji Press)--An evacuation shelter catering to the needs of pregnant women and families with children has been set up in Hikawa, a town in Kumamoto Prefecture, southwestern Japan, that was hit hard by a major earthquake in late July.

The specialized evacuation shelter, the only one of its kind in Kumamoto, was set up on Aug. 6. It offers tents to each household for privacy and serves as a hub for gathering and distributing aid supplies related to child-rearing, such as powdered milk, baby food and diapers. Nurses, midwives and nursery teachers offer care there.

Fifth-nine people from 14 households were at the shelter as of Thursday, according to Yoshimi Kamiyoshihara, a nurse from the disaster medical assistance team secretariat at the Japan Institute for Health Security who has been supporting its launch and operation.

The number of users has been increasing as families have transferred from ordinary evacuation shelters after being warned that their children were noisy, and as others have become unable to continue living in their cars or at home, she said.

"Demand is higher than immediately after the disaster," Kamiyoshihara said.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]