Quake Evacuees Survive on Rice Balls, Bread, Seek to Avoid Flu at Shelters

[Ronan Kelly]

Quake Evacuees Survive on Rice Balls, Bread, Seek to Avoid Flu at Shelters
By Naoko Fujimura and Kana Nishizawa - Mar 26, 2011 4:58 AM ET

Relief workers in Japan?s earthquake-stricken region are struggling to provide many residents with just two meals a day, while influenza is spreading at some evacuation centers, local authorities said.

In Miyagi, the hardest-hit prefecture, shelters continue to feed people rice balls and bread even after restored utilities allowed many who still have houses to go home. Medical teams are struggling to access some areas in Iwate prefecture to deliver medicine as flu is spreading at some of the 383 local evacuation centers, authorities there said.

?Medication for flu is being delivered," said Naoto Wakuishi, a spokesman for Iwate prefecture, in northeast Japan. "But transportation is tough, and even if staff do go in, it?s hard for them to get around."

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-26/japan-s-evacuees-battle-flu-survive-on-rice-balls-and-bread.html

[JimO]

Re: Quake Evacuees Survive on Rice Balls, Bread, Seek to Avoid Flu at Shelters

While watching all the videos circulated during the past two weeks, I've noticed that the Japanese seem very diligent about wearing masks during flu season, which might explain their relatively low fatality rate based on population, which (at 2.6 deaths per million) is an order of magnitude lower than Ukraine (27), Canada (19), the UK (18), or the US (13). I realized that the surveillance and reporting criteria are different in each nation, but Japan seems to be an anomaly, in that they have a sophisticated surveillance system and seem to report rather openly, as compared to, say, China.