scholarly journals Crisis Management and Disaster Prevention Systems at Special Needs Schools During the Great East Japan Earthquake

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-105
Author(s):  
Mari Tanaka
Keyword(s):  
Special Needs ◽  
Crisis Management ◽  
Great East Japan Earthquake ◽  
Disaster Prevention

The School Education to Improve the Disaster Response Capacity : A Case of “Kamaishi Miracle”

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 845-856 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toshitaka Katada ◽  
◽  
Masanobu Kanai ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Disaster Response ◽  
School Education ◽  
Great East Japan Earthquake ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Disaster Prevention ◽  
Prevention Education ◽  
The World ◽  
Response Capacity ◽  
Future Education

Many people died in the Great East Japan Earthquake. However, children in Kamaishi City survived by taking advantage of what they learned from disaster prevention education. It was called the “Kamaishi Miracle,” and the story spread around the world. In this study, the disaster prevention education that made possible the appropriate evacuation of the children is examined and future education possibilities are discussed. First, it should be pointed out that most disaster prevention education conducted before the earthquake took the form of “threatening disaster prevention education” or “knowledge-oriented disaster prevention education.” To solve the deficiencies in these programs, “attitude-oriented disaster prevention education” with a focus on children’s independence is proposed. In addition, three educational guidelines regarding evacuation from tsunamis are discussed. We also study the current status of disaster prevention education in Japan after the earthquake and show that when it puts an emphasis on life and community it have far-reaching effect.

Consideration of Evacuation Drills Utilizing the Capabilities of People with Special Needs

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 794-801
Author(s):  
Takashi Sugiyama ◽  
Katsuya Yamori ◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Special Needs ◽  
Risk Reduction ◽  
Disaster Risk Reduction ◽  
Participation Rate ◽  
Disaster Risk ◽  
Mountainous Area ◽  
Disaster Prevention ◽  
Mountainous Regions ◽  
Evacuation Drills ◽  
Evacuation Behaviors

People with special needs are at higher risk during a disaster than those without because of delayed disaster evacuation behaviors. Therefore, one of the top priorities in the field of disaster risk reduction is implementing evacuation support for the people with special needs. However, assistance is often limited, especially in areas with declining and aging populations. In addition, past evacuation activities for people with special needs have tended to focus on the barriers they face and assistance they need during evacuation rather than their utilizable capabilities. Therefore, this study considers evacuation drills that utilize the capabilities of people with special needs. An “indoor evacuation drill” was developed and the evacuation behaviors of residents with special needs were analyzed. An indoor evacuation drill is defined as an evacuation activity that participants carry out within their own homes – for example, evacuating from the bedroom to an exit. In coastal areas, such a drill helps residents prepare to evacuate their homes in case of a tsunami, while in mountainous regions, it helps them prepare for evacuation to the upper floors in case of a landslide. The study participants were residents of Hamamachi ward (a coastal area) and Kumai ward (a mountainous area) in Kuroshio town, Kōchi Prefecture, Japan. The results indicate that an indoor evacuation drill conducted in the participants’ living area, such as the entrance or second floor of their home, is easier to implement than usual disaster evacuation drills, and helps people with special needs regain autonomy in disaster risk reduction activities. Moreover, the participation rate of the target population in local evacuation drills increased after participating in the indoor evacuation drills. Existing evacuation drills often overlook people with special needs, and delays in disaster prevention for this population are often associated with their lack of interest in related activities. However, the results of this study suggest that disaster prevention activities themselves sometimes overlook the challenges faced by people with special needs and prevent them from participating.

Disaster Prevention Activities of Japanese Fire Companies

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 929-938 ◽  
Author(s):  
Atsushi Sakuma ◽  
◽  
Ichiro Matsuo ◽  
Shin Ito ◽  
Shigeyoshi Tanaka ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Great East Japan Earthquake ◽  
The Other ◽  
Individual Experience ◽  
Disaster Prevention ◽  
Information Communication ◽  
Safety Measures ◽  
The Core ◽  
Prevention Activities ◽  
In Fire

Many lives were saved due to local disaster prevention activities such as evacuation guidance during the Great East Japan Earthquake. On the other hand, those involved in local disaster prevention activities were negatively affected in many cases. Therefore, local disaster prevention activities and safety-ensuring measures during large-scale disasters are being reviewed. This paper focuses on fire companies that are expected to develop and implement the core of local disaster prevention activities. In order to study the effectiveness of safety measures in areas that are vulnerable to natural disasters, disaster prevention activities focusing on water and wind disasters in particular were studied in Kiho Town in Mie Prefecture following the Great East Japan Earthquake. As a result, information communication measures, equipment, and manuals proved to be effective in areas that are at risk of disasters other than earthquakes. In addition, the importance of sharing manuals in organizations was also shown, because disaster measures in fire companies tend to be performed based on individual experience. Furthermore, the importance of cooperation with other organizations in the region was also demonstrated.

Special Issue on the Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster: Part V

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (sp) ◽  
pp. 769-769
Author(s):  
Katsuki Takiguchi ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Earth Science ◽  
Great East Japan Earthquake ◽  
Radioactive Material ◽  
Disaster Prevention ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Academic Journal ◽  
The 2016 Kumamoto Earthquakes ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Urban Safety

Journal of Disaster Research (JDR) published its first issue in August, 2006. Since then, we have published six issues a year on a bimonthly basis. JDR is an academic journal aimed at bringing a broad, comprehensive discussion to the subject of disasters, and thus contributing to the field of disaster prevention and reduction. Its comprehensive coverage harbors the risk of becoming unfocussed or fostering unsubstantiated conclusions. At JDR, we have dealt with this risk by making most issues special feature issues, and inviting specialists in the relevant fields as guest editors. The Great East Japan Earthquake occurred on March, 2011, five years after our first issue was published. It was a Mw9.0 earthquake that occurred off the Pacific coast of the Tohoku region. The earthquake triggered a tsunami which produced huge casualties, amounting to over 18,000 dead or missing persons. The disaster was accompanied by a nuclear plant accident, an unprecedented event in mankind’s history. The catastrophic accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, operated by Tokyo Electric Company, resulted in core meltdown and the release of radioactive material. At JDR, we considered it our responsibility to publish, apart from our regular issues, special issues on the Great East Japan Earthquake consisting of five yearly issues beginning with the first issue in 2012. This issue, Part 5, is the final issue. We would like to thank all of the authors who submitted articles for the five special issues, the reviewers, and many others who contributed. The special issues project on the Great East Japan Earthquake will be passed down to a special issue on the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes occurred on April, 2016 in Kumamoto, Japan. Co-Editors: Suminao Murakami (Editor-in-Chief; Representative, Laboratory of Urban Safety Planning, Japan) Haruo Hayashi (Editor-in-Chief; President, National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention, Japan) Hideaki Karaki (President, Foundation of Food Safety and Security, Japan)

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