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Psychological recovery 5 years after the 2004 Niigata-Chuetsu earthquake in Yamakoshi, Japan.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:The 2004 Niigata-Chuetsu earthquake of Japan caused considerable damage. We assessed long-term changes in psychological distress among earthquake victims during the period 5 years after the earthquake. METHODS:The participants were people aged 18 years or older living in Yamakoshi, a community in Niigata Prefecture near the epicenter. A self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted annually for 5 consecutive years after the earthquake. Response rates were 1316/1841 (71.5%) in 2005, 667/1381 (48.3%) in 2006, 753/1451 (51.9%) in 2007, 541/1243 (43.5%) in 2008, and 814/1158 (70.3%) in 2009. The questionnaire asked about demographic characteristics, including sex, age, employment status, social network, and psychological status. Psychological distress was assessed using the 12-item General Health Questionnaire and was defined as a total score of 4 or higher. RESULTS:The overall prevalence of psychological distress decreased (P < 0.0001) gradually from 2005 (51.0%) to 2008 (30.1%) but tended to increase from 2008 to 2009 (P = 0.1590). Subgroup analyses showed that prevalence did not decrease over the 5-year study period among participants with poor social contact (P = 0.0659). From 2008 to 2009 prevalence increased in women (+7.5%, P = 0.0403) and participants aged 65 years or older (+7.2%, P = 0.0400). CONCLUSIONS:The prevalence of psychological distress in Yamakoshi people decreased steadily during the 4 years immediately after the earthquake but appeared to increase thereafter. The earthquake victims are still reestablishing their lives. Thus, continued attention should be focused on maintaining and further assessing their mental health.

SUBMITTER: Nakamura K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3956692 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Psychological recovery 5 years after the 2004 Niigata-Chuetsu earthquake in Yamakoshi, Japan.

Nakamura Kazutoshi K Kitamura Kaori K Someya Toshiyuki T

Journal of epidemiology 20131228 2

<h4>Background</h4>The 2004 Niigata-Chuetsu earthquake of Japan caused considerable damage. We assessed long-term changes in psychological distress among earthquake victims during the period 5 years after the earthquake.<h4>Methods</h4>The participants were people aged 18 years or older living in Yamakoshi, a community in Niigata Prefecture near the epicenter. A self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted annually for 5 consecutive years after the earthquake. Response rates were 1316/18 ...[more]

PMID: 24390416

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Project description:ObjectivesThe 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake had an enormous negative impact on survivors' health. Many survivors experienced psychological distress and their long-term psychological recovery process remains unclear. Our objective was thus to explore this long-term psychological recovery process.DesignQualitative study.SettingFrom January to December 2015, face-to-face interviews were conducted in Kobe, Japan.Participants20 affected survivors (55% female; ages ranged from 7 to 60 at the time of the disaster)-10 volunteer storytellers, six first responders (firefighters/public health nurses) and four post-traumatic stress disorder patients.Outcome measuresWe asked participants about their experiences and psychological distress relating to the earthquake and what facilitated or hindered their psychological recovery. We analysed interview data using constructivist grounded theory.ResultsParticipants experienced diverse emotional reactions immediately after the disaster and often hyperfocused on what they should do now. This hyperfocused state led to both mental and physical health problems several months after the disaster. Months, and sometimes years, after the disaster, guilt and earthquake narratives (ie, expressing thoughts and feelings about the earthquake) played key roles in survivors' psychological recovery: guilt suppressed their earthquake narrative; conversely, the narrative alleviated feelings of distress about the earthquake. In time, participants reconsidered their earthquake experiences both alone and through social interaction. This alleviated their emotional reactions; however, participants still experienced attenuated emotional reactions, and some hid their feelings of distress even 20 years postdisaster. Interpersonal relationships modified this psychological process both positively and negatively.ConclusionsFuture psychosocial support plans for disaster survivors may need to (1) include both mental and physical care in the transition from the acute phase to the recovery phase; (2) facilitate supportive interpersonal relationships for survivors during the mid-term recovery phase and (3) provide long-term psychological support to the most traumatised survivors, even if they appear to be functioning normally.

Project description:OBJECTIVES:Previous studies have reported that displacement from one's own home after a natural disaster is associated with a higher degree of psychological distress. The present study investigated the longitudinal association between the period of residence in prefabricated temporary housing and psychological distress after the Great East Japan Earthquake. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS:We conducted a longitudinal observation of 284 adults (aged ?18 years) who had lived in prefabricated temporary housing in Miyagi, Northeastern Japan. The period of residence in prefabricated temporary housing was classified into three categories: <3, 3-4 and >4 years (ie, still living in prefabricated temporary housing). OUTCOMES:The Kessler 6-item Psychological Distress Scale (K6) was assessed in both a baseline survey (2011) and a follow-up survey (2016). Higher psychological distress was defined by a K6 score of ?5. We used Firth's penalised likelihood method in the multivariate logistic regression model to estimate the adjusted ORs and 95% CIs. RESULTS:Among the total participants, the proportion of individuals with higher psychological distress at the follow-up survey was significantly higher in the >4 years category (multivariate OR=4.00, 95% CI 1.67 to 10.16) than in the <3 years category. Among participants who had a lower degree of psychological distress at the baseline, the proportion of those whose psychological distress deteriorated was significantly higher in the >4 years category (multivariate OR=4.87, 95% CI 1.26 to 20.28) than in the <3 years category. On the other hand, among the participants who had a higher degree of psychological distress at the baseline, the proportion of those whose psychological distress ameliorated was significantly lower in the >4 years category (multivariate OR=0.26, 95% CI 0.06 to 0.85) than in the <3 years category. CONCLUSIONS:The proportion of individuals with more severe psychological distress was higher among participants who had lived in prefabricated temporary housing for a long period.

Project description:The distribution of culturable hyperthermophiles was studied in relation to environmental conditions in the Kubiki oil reservoir in Japan, where the temperature was between 50 and 58 degrees C. Dominant hyperthermophilic cocci and rods were isolated and shown to belong to the genera Thermococcus and Thermotoga, respectively, by 16S rDNA analyses. Using the most-probable-number method, we found that hyperthermophilic cocci were widely distributed in several unconnected fault blocks in the Kubiki oil reservoir. In 1996 to 1997, their populations in the production waters from oil wells were 9.2 x 10(3) to 4.6 x 10(4) cells/ml, or 10 to 42% of total cocci. On the other hand, hyperthermophilic rods were found in only one fault block of the reservoir with populations less than 10 cells/ml. Dominant Thermococcus and Thermotoga spp. grew at reservoir temperatures and utilized amino acids and sugars, respectively, as sole carbon sources. While organic carbon was plentiful in the environment, these hyperthermophiles were unable to grow in the formation water due to lack of essential nutrients. Concentrations of some organic and inorganic substances differed among fault blocks, indicating that the movement of formation water between fault blocks was restricted. This finding suggests that the supply of nutrients via fluid current is limited in this subterranean environment and that the organisms are starved in the oil reservoir. Under starved conditions at 50 degrees C, culturable cells of Thermococcus sp. remained around the initial cell density for about 200 days, while those of Thermotoga sp. decreased exponentially to 0. 01% of the initial cell density after incubation for the same period. The difference in survivability between these two hyperthermophiles seems to reflect their populations in the fault blocks. These results indicate that hyperthermophilic cocci and rods adapt to the subterranean environment of the Kubiki oil reservoir by developing an ability to survive under starved conditions.

Dataset Information

Psychological recovery 5 years after the 2004 Niigata-Chuetsu earthquake in Yamakoshi, Japan.

Publications

Psychological recovery 5 years after the 2004 Niigata-Chuetsu earthquake in Yamakoshi, Japan.

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