[Disaster psychiatry in late life].

Disaster preparedness in geriatric psychiatry was proposed on the basis of experience of the Great East Japan Earthquake. 1) Frail or demented elderly should be considered as a special population at risk for disaster victims and addressed in local disaster prevention programs. 2) To response to various psychiatric symptoms(delirium, BPSD, depression, anxiety, insomnia, and posttraumatic stress disorder) caused by medical conditions and rapid environmental changes due to disaster, linkage and coordination systems between psychiatric and medical sections should be established. 3) As a medium- and long-term support for the elderly who lost the community familiar to them, creation of a new community should be promoted in order to prevent depression, alcohol dependence, BPSD, and suicide.