Support to Children and Schools After the East Japan Disaster :

Disruption of Child Environments and Its Psychological Consequences After the Fukushima Disaster: a Narrative Review Based on the Ecological Systems Model

“…Since severely affected schools were evacuated and moved to a substitute location, schools that survived the tsunami and nuclear disaster were ordered to function as long-term shelters for displaced people and were thus closed for an extended period of time [38]. As the needs of displaced people for housing increased, prefabricated, temporary housings occupied the schoolyards, which led children to lose their playground and a place dedicated to them [39]. Even after schools resumed, children faced restrained outdoor activities, suspension of extracurricular activities, and many classmates moving away [38,40], leading to significant changes in their peer relationships.…”

“…First, immediately after the disaster struck, guidelines laid out by the national and local government established the foundation for mitigating the damage to children's environment and family system. This included the provision of temporary housing, financial assistance, and dispatching public servants to affected local municipal offices, such as child protective services [55,56].…”

“…To enhance peer-support functioning among children, psychoeducation classes aimed at teaching the relationship between disaster and stress reactions were conducted, so that the school culture could be more trauma-informed [55]. Furthermore, bullying associated with the Fukushima nuclear disaster reflected the prejudice against the evacuated families existing in the society, which had become pervasive even among school-aged children.…”

“…To support children's mental health, delivering interventions directly on-site in schools was effective as it provided easier accessibility to affected children. Psychoeducation classes to learn about the relationship between disaster and stress reactions could help children cope with the impact of the disaster [55]. Similarly, learning about accurate information on radiation risks [56,57] could reduce their unwarranted anxiety and selfstigmatization, and help them resist prejudice and discrimination, leading to a healthier development of identity.…”