The role of the community is becoming increasingly recognized as a crucial determinant of human health, particularly during a disaster and during disaster recovery. To identify disaster-vulnerable communities, we sought factors related to communities in need of support by using census information from before the Great East Japan Earthquake.

We identified vulnerable communities by using a needs-assessment survey conducted 6 to 12 months after the Great East Japan Earthquake in Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture, as indicated by higher proportions of households with at least 1 of 3 major support needs (medical, elderly, psychological, and dwelling environment). The associations between the need for support and 9 demographic characteristics of the community from census data prior to the Great East Japan Earthquake were examined for 71 communities by use of logistic regression analysis.

The need for elderly support was positively associated with the proportions of aged people (odds ratio [OR]=1.5; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.2–1.8) and one-person households (OR=1.3; 95% CI: 1.0–1.7), whereas the need for psychological support was associated with the proportion of people engaged in agriculture (OR=4.6; 95% CI: 1.0–20.7). The proportion of fisheries was negatively associated with the need for dwelling environment support (OR=0.5; 95% CI: 0.3–0.9).

The consideration of simple demographic characteristics from the census may be useful for identifying vulnerable communities and preparing for future disasters. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2015;9:19-28)