Interview

#9 Masamune Kuno, (Director, Nippon Medical School Tama Nagayama Hospital, Department of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine)

Interviews highlighting people involved with HuMA’s activities. The ninth issue features Dr. Masamune Kuno, who has been involved in relief activities following the earthquake and torrential rain disasters that struck the Noto region in 2024, providing medical support as a member of JMAT (Japan Medical Association Team) and managing missions as the HuMA director. He has also worked hard to disseminate information from the disaster area.

 

At the Noto Peninsula Earthquake Relief Center

 

More in-depth and detailed information to HuMA members

The magnitude 7 earthquake that occurred on January 1, 2024, and the torrential rain disaster that occurred in September. A total of about 120 medical workers from HuMA were dispatched to the Noto region of Ishikawa Prefecture, which was severely damaged by a series of disasters, and engaged in various support activities. The situation has been publicized on the HuMA website and Facebook, but what was important to me during the relief activities this time was the dissemination of information to HuMA members.

HuMA currently has approximately 490 members (as of the end of December 2024), but not all of them are directly involved in activities in the affected areas, and there is inevitably a gap in information between members who are dispatched to the affected areas and those who are not.

Many of you are sending your hearts and minds to the affected areas from far away. What is behind the activities taking place now? What issues are they facing and what measures are they trying to take? Members are seeking more in-depth and detailed information. With a renewed focus on this, I felt it necessary to communicate the reality of support activities that can only be shared by HuMA members.

Information for members was disseminated daily during the period of support activities. Since there were people from various positions among the members, I tried to convey as much realistic information as possible while giving due consideration to the way I communicated and expressed ourselves. As I continued to send out information, I began to receive support from our members, which made me realize that not only our members in the field but also HuMA as a whole was involved in the activities.

 

Restoring “Daily Life” in the Affected Areas

One of HuMA’s activities in the Noto region was to provide support at an elderly care facility that was severely understaffed due to the disaster. Focusing on daily life support such as assistance with meals and bathing, the facility staff and HuMA members worked together to hold seasonal events such as birthday parties, Halloween, and mini sports festivals for the facility residents. Rather than canceling events that were originally held because they were affected by the disaster, we want people to feel a sense of “returning to normal life” through these events.

 

Mini field day at a senior citizen facility

 

It was in 2013 when I participated in relief activities for the typhoon in the Philippines. I heard that the children were shocked that they could not have a party because of the disaster before Christmas, so I headed to the area with my guitar and said, “Then let’s throw a party ourselves. It was Christmas under difficult circumstances, but I remember with deep emotion the smiles on the faces of the children as they sang songs and played games.

There were times in Noto when I almost cried when I saw HuMA members’ reports of the activities being carried out to help the people in the affected areas. Our activities came to an end at the end of October 2024, but we hope that our activities have brought smiles to the faces of as many people as possible.

 

With a broad perspective and a “soft mind”.

Support activities are never always successful, and we face new problems with each activity. However, there is always something to be gained from each experience, and I would like to link the lessons learned to the next activity. I believe that is my role.

What we need to be aware of is whether there are any problems that have been overlooked somewhere. For example, recent disasters have focused on improving the environment of evacuation centers, but in fact, similar problems occurred in the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. At that time, the focus was on acute care, and the problem of evacuation centers was overshadowed.

The topics of focus in disaster relief change from time to time. However, there are situations in which assistance is needed where not everyone is paying attention. I think we have to look at things from a broader perspective.

One such example is providing livelihood support and psychological care to people in the disaster-stricken areas. When a disaster strikes, it temporarily attracts a lot of attention and support, but after a certain period of time, people tend to lose interest in the affected areas.

Even after overcoming the imminent situation, difficulties still persist. We are always thinking about the affected areas. If you are in need, HuMA will come to you.” I believe that such a “soft mindset” is what makes HuMA unique.

 

Together with enthusiastic members