Yatsushiro, JAPAN (TheHQNews) – A vivid sign advising “Please wear a mask”, boxes of surgical masks, bottles of disinfectants mark the entrance to a public gym in Yatsushiro city, which is used as a shelter for residents fleeing devastating floods in southwestern Japan this week.
Elsewhere in the gym, cardboard partitions separate the 233 evacuees’ sleeping areas and another sign instructs them to check their temperature each morning, then sterilise the thermometers.
The measures show what a thorny issue it is for Japan to deal with natural disasters in the time of COVID19 pandemic.
Japanese authorities have been warning local officials since last many to adopt COVID19 safety measures in their disaster preparations.
Residents have been advised to seek shelter with friends or relatives if possible to avoid overcrowding evacuation centres.
Kumomoto region, where Yatsushiro is located, has had only 49 of Japan’s more than 20,000 COVID19 cases compared to about 7,000 in Tokyo, where cases are on the rise again among its 14 million residents, according to public broadcaster NHK.
Many locals adapted to the annual floods in the region, had intended to remain at home but were forced for evacuation as per authorities’ orders due to the intensity of the floods.
The evacuation of many locals due to the floods and sending them to joint residence facilities increase the threat of COVID19 spread as residents would gather together to chat, creating just the sort of crowded conditions health experts claim increase infection risk.
City official Takanobu Ono said the evacuation centre was limited to 300 people despite a capacity for 500. But he said the priority for evacuees was escaping with their lives.
Dangerous weather disasters have become increasingly common in Japan recently. Last year, Typhoon Hagibis killed nearly 100 people, a year after more than 200 died in western Japan in the worst flooding in decades.