KOBE—The many volunteer support groups for disaster victims that formed in 1995 are now struggling because of the aging of staff members and funding shortages.

The Great Hanshin Earthquake devastated the Kobe area 28 years ago on Jan. 17, 1995.

That year became known as “the first year of volunteers” because the disaster prompted spontaneous social activities, including volunteer work, across Japan.

That led to the enactment of the Promotion of Specified Nonprofit Activities Law in 1998, which featured a system to grant corporation status to designated NPOs.

Ahead of the law’s 25th anniversary in March, many of these and other organizations are finding it difficult to continue their activities.

A recent Asahi Shimbun survey showed that aging is a big problem for the groups.

Questionnaires were sent to 77 groups, including NPOs founded to support victims of the Great Hanshin Earthquake.

More than half of the 51 responding groups said they have failed to replenish their ranks with younger members.

And more than half of the staff members at 18 organizations are in their 60s or older. And some organizations said they have had the same staff members for several years.

The survey showed that a lack of funding is preventing these groups from employing younger people and rejuvenating activities.

TEA PARTIES FOR QUAKE VICTIMS

In early January, around 10 elderly citizens held a tea party at a meeting room located within public housing for victims of the Great Hanshin Earthquake in Kobe’s Suma Ward.

Sachiko Uto, 78, who served tea and sweets to the guests, wondered if such tea parties could continue.

Uto is the leader of a group called Hanshin Koreisha Shogaisha Shien Network (the Hanshin network to support older and disabled people).

The group, founded five months after the Great Hanshin Earthquake to support older and disabled victims of the disaster, holds a tea party three times a week.

More than half of its 10 staff members are in their 70s or older.

When the group was formed in 1995, earthquake victims were moving to temporary accommodations from evacuation centers.

The new homes were decided by lottery, so many victims had to relocate to unfamiliar areas.

The group’s members started activities to help the quake victims form bonds with their new communities.

The group was initially based in a temporary accommodation in Kobe’s Nishi Ward. Its early activities included visiting older quake victims who were living on their own.

In 1996, the group started holding tea parties six times a week to create opportunities for elderly victims to talk to each other.

However, even if the disaster victims developed friendships, they eventually moved to more permanent locations provided by local authorities.

Even so, group members, including Uto, continued visiting the older victims at their new homes. They also held tea parties at the new permanent housing for the victims.

In April 2004, the group gained recognition as an NPO. The Kobe city government also designated the group as a private-sector body to support elderly citizens.

That enabled the group to set up an office in public housing for earthquake victims in Kobe’s Suma Ward. The room remains the current base of the group.

The turning point for the NPO came 10 years later, when Hiroko Kuroda, a former nurse who headed the group, died in September 2014 at the age of 73.

Uto succeeded Kuroda, but she decided to close down the group partly because nearly 20 years had passed since the earthquake struck.

However, around 100 people, including tea party participants, signed a petition calling for a continuation of the group.

Uto said she thought at the time, “Twenty years have passed since the earthquake, but the issue of loneliness remains among the victims.”

She resumed the group’s activities.

But she disbanded the NPO corporation, returning the group to its status as a voluntary association.

Uto said that when the group was an NPO corporation, the administration work, such as submitting activity reports to the city government every fiscal year, was a burden.

Many of the group’s elderly staff members were unfamiliar with computers, meaning others had to fill in to complete the administrative work on time.

Also, the NPO corporation status did not lead to preferential treatment from the government regarding funding for activities, according to Uto.

The group has had to rely on donations to buy tea or sweets for the tea parties.

Members each pay a monthly fee of 200 yen ($1.55), which is used to cover rent and utility bills for the office.

“The group’s activities require much time and effort, which now surpasses the benefits it brings,” Uto said. “Staff members are aging, and our finances are so tight. But activities to support older victims will be more in need in the future.”

(This article was written by Satoshi Tazoe, Daishiro Inagaki and Shuya Iwamoto.)