Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Oct:191:117-124.
doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.09.011. Epub 2017 Sep 8.

Disappearing everyday materials: The displacement of medical resources following disaster in Fukushima, Japan

Sudeepa Abeysinghe  1 , Claire Leppold  2 , Akihiko Ozaki  3 , Mariko Morita  4 , Masaharu Tsubokura  5
Affiliations

Disappearing everyday materials: The displacement of medical resources following disaster in Fukushima, Japan

Sudeepa Abeysinghe et al. Soc Sci Med. 2017 Oct.

Abstract

This study draws upon interviews of medical staff working in the city of Minamisoma, Japan, following the 2011 Triple Disaster. It investigates staff responses to the disruption of material resources as a consequence of the disaster and its management. The disruption of spaces, and the loss of oxygen supplies, food, and medications impacted upon staff experience and the ability of institutions to care for patients. This resulted in a restructuring of spaces and materials as workers made efforts to reconfigure and reestablish healthcare functions. This is one of the few qualitative studies which draws upon the experience and perspectives of health workers in understanding material disruption following disaster. This is particularly important since this case did not involve the breakdown of lifeline infrastructure, but rather, brought to attention the way everyday material objects shape social experience. In highlighting these effects, the paper makes the case for the social scientific investigation of the impact of disasters on healthcare, shedding light on an area of research currently dominated by disaster medicine.

Keywords: Disaster; Fukushima; Hospital; Japan; Medical staff; Qualitative.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Evacuation Zones in relation to Minamisoma City.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Bankoff G. The historical geography of disaster: vulnerability and local knowledge in western discourse. In: Bankoff G., Frerks G., Hilhorst D., editors. Mapping Vulnerability: Disasters, Development & People. Earthscan; New York: 2004. pp. 25–36.
    1. Bar-Dayan Y., Mankuta D., Wolf Y., Levy Y., VanRooyen M., Beard P., Finestone A., Gruzman C., Benedek P., Martonovits G. An earthquake disaster in Turkey: an overview of the experience of the israeli defence forces field hospital in Adapazari. Disasters. 2000;24(3):262–270. - PubMed
    1. Barnshaw J., Trainor J. Race, class, and capital amidst the Hurricane Katrina diaspora. In: Brunsma D.L., Overfelt D., Picou J.S., editors. The Sociology of Katrina: Perspectives on a Modern Catastrophe. Rowman & Littlefield; Lanham: 2007. pp. 91–105.
    1. Becker H.S. Chicago University Press; Chicago: 1961. Boys in White: Student Culture in Medical School.
    1. Bolin B. Handbook of Disaster Research. Springer New York; New York: 2007. Race, class, ethnicity, and disaster vulnerability; pp. 113–129.

Publication types