By MIKI AOKI/ Staff Writer
October 16, 2019 at 15:25 JST
The mayor of Tokyo’s Taito Ward apologized for a public evacuation facility’s refusal to accept three homeless men seeking shelter from Typhoon No. 19.
The three were forced to spend the night of Oct. 12 outdoors under intense wind and torrential rain.
“We deeply apologize that there were people who were unable to evacuate to the shelter because of our inadequate responses,” Mayor Yukuo Hattori said in a statement issued on Oct. 15.
Hattori also said the ward will consider measures to prevent anyone from being turned away from such facilities in future emergencies.
A 64-year-old homeless man said as the typhoon was bearing down on Tokyo on the morning of Oct. 12, he arrived at Shinobugaoka Elementary School in Taito Ward seeking shelter.
The ward-run school had been set up as an emergency shelter for Taito Ward residents who had voluntarily evacuated. They were asked to write their names and addresses on a form at the facility’s reception.
The homeless man told ward officials that he did not have an address in the ward but did have one in Hokkaido.
He was refused entry, with one staff member telling him, “This evacuation facility is reserved for ward residents.”
He ended up spending the night outside in the deadly typhoon under a plastic umbrella beneath the eaves of a building.
“I wanted them to allow me into the facility because the wind was strong and it was raining,” the man said.
Two other homeless men were also turned away at the shelter for not having addresses, according to the ward.
Taito Ward said an organization providing support to homeless people appealed on behalf of homeless men in the afternoon of Oct. 12, asking that they be allowed inside the school. But the ward rejected the request.
A ward representative explained that staff members had not thought about how to accommodate people with no fixed addresses.
On Oct. 15, Taito Ward set up a group of division chief-level officials to discuss how to respond to homeless people during disasters.
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A 64-year-old homeless man and other people spent the night of Oct. 12 at this location in Taito Ward as Typhoon No. 19 pummeled the Kanto region. (Provided by Atsuko Imagawa)
