The enormous earthquake off the coast of North-Eastern Japan on March 11, 2011 and the ensuring massive tsunami devastated a wide area of the North-Eastern coastal area of Japan. The number of dead and missing currently stands at over 19,000, with over 390,000 buildings either completely or partially destroyed. At the peak, there were over 400,000 evacuees who were forced to live in temporary housing units for a prolonged period of time. Food deliveries for evacuees who moved into temporary housing units in the autumn of 2011 were ended and the victims given their privacy. However, as a result it became difficult to gauge their health, or to measure their dietary, nutritional or exercise intakes behind the closed doors of their temporary housing units. This research investigated two groups of elderly housewives: the first residing in temporary housing units and the second in their own original houses, in a Kesennuma Oshima Island (population 3,478, with 1,127 homes and an area 9.05km2 as of March 2008), Miyagi Pref., Japan.
