Housing Condition Essay

Topic sentence: Japanese Americans faced inadequate housing conditions with unconstructed rooms, open latrines along with shower facilities, and a poor water system. The internees lived in barracks, where large families shared 20 by 20 foot rooms (Ng 35). Smaller families consisting of about 4 members resided in 8 by 20 foot rooms. (Ng 35) Housing was overcrowded not everyone had separate rooms as they had before. Living in one room with a family meant higher chances of spreading and contracting illnesses. Loren Eiseley, who had to move into the internment camp at Topaz stated, “‘The first sight of our rooms was dismissal no furniture, unfurnished walls and ceilings, a two inch layer of fine dust on the floor and window sills”’ (Roger et …show more content…
In Manazar, the latrines were commonly overflowed or broken and had no partitions, while the showers had no stalls (Roger et al. 28). Elaine Yoneda recalled that toilets were placed back to back in Manzanar without any partitions or doors (Ng 41). Miyo Uchiyama stated, “You could see between the slats of buildings...I felt really sorry for some of the teenagers, especially the shy ones…I recall one of the girls lost her mind” (Fremon 48). Privacy hardly existed within the camps, especially for the teenagers seen naked in front of others. Water stank of hydrocarbons and left rust-colored oily remains from recycled oil pipes that were used for plumbing because of wartime shortages. (“Healthcare in permanent concentration camps” 360). It was common for internees to drink water from barrels instead from the water system itself at Heart Mountain. (“Healthcare in permanent concentration camps” 360) For bathing water, faucets would run all night and pipes would be cleaned out. (Jensen “Dysentery, Dust, and Determination”)Dr Yoshiye Togasaki, being a public health specialist knew about the hazards of untreated water supplies, causing him to speak up for water filtration and chlorination at Manzanar. (Jensen