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Clean Water and Toilets for Healthy Shelters
In the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, evacuation shelters that rapidly restored clean tap water and toilets were also able to reduce the spread of disease.
Regular, standardized assessments of evacuation shelters can help keep people healthy following natural disasters, according to research published by Tohoku University scientists and colleagues in the journal Heliyon. The study found that a clean tap water supply and hygienic toilets were especially important for protecting evacuees from the spread of infectious diseases.
“A clean water supply and maintaining hygiene are important for reducing environmental health risks among victims of natural disasters,” says Tadashi Ishii, who specializes in disaster medicine at Tohoku University. “But scientists have not yet established a strong evidence base that describes the relationship between damage in resource supplies and infrastructure on the one
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